Native Americans lose out on AIDS funds

Indians are losers in the battle for federal funds for AIDS.

Their numbers are too small.

Through 2003, the latest figures available, there have been 3,026 documented Native American cases, compared with more than 350,000 cases each for Anglos and Blacks, about 173,000 Hispanic and just over 7,000 Asian.

But Native American leaders say their numbers are artificially low.

Many cases are not counted because of racial misidentification, lack of testing in rural areas with few clinics, concerns about privacy in the Indian Health Service and denial in communities where religious stigma has replaced traditional acceptance.

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Article title: Native Americans lose out on AIDS funds
Source: Arizona Republic (possibly around July 2005)

Click here to learn more about Isadore Boni's story

AIDS takes a growing toll on Native Americans

KIANA, Alaska -- Frank Igluguq Gooden grew up near the end of the Earth.

His Alaskan village of Kiana, home to 400 Inupiat natives, lies north of the Arctic Circle.

No roads go there. To visit, you must fly 550 miles north from Anchorage to the hub town of Kotzebue, then catch a puddle-jumper east across 150 miles of water and open tundra, populated by moose and bears, to the edge of the Kobuk River.

In the winter, it snows up to 5 feet, and temperatures can drop to 50 below zero. In the summer, the sun never sets.

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In Arizona, 3 programs point to hope

The sun had set when Melvin Harrison walked up to a grocery store on the Navajo Reservation.

Word was getting around that Harrison was trying to get help for sick people.

A young man, very thin, touched him on the arm and asked for a hug.

He wouldn't let go.

"I have AIDS," he said.

"OK," Harrison said. "That's OK."

Harrison shivered.

"I hadn't seen one of my own people like this. I hadn't been so close to someone. It was shocking to me."

It was 1988.

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