Black health advocacy group says HIV is ‘a crisis in our community’ | Community

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — The Black Leadership Advocacy Coalition for Healthcare Equity (BLACHE) let their voices be heard in the state capitol Wednesday as they demanded more funding for Black HIV care in Illinois.

Black people are now more likely to contract HIV than White people according to the U.S. Office of Minority Health.

BLACHE board chair Creola Kizart-Hampton said Illinois agreed to fund Black HIV programs to the name of $15 million in the 2021 budget, but due to staff shortages in the Illinois Department of Public Health, they still have not received the full amount of promised money. 

“You cannot justify 96% of your budget going to White led organizations,” Kizart-Hampton said. “You’re not going to cut funding for them, but funding that was promised to Black led organizations that were promised the funding, it’s called a default of contract. We should be suing the state.”

The Illinois Department of Public Health told WAND that no funding has been withheld and unspent funds from previous years have rolled over and are still available. 

They also said they “will continue to work with Black-led organizations to disperse remaining funds.”

The HIV federal relief program called PEPFAR had $7 billion frozen late last month by President Trump.

Members of the Illinois Black Caucus came in support of continued funding of Black HIV Healthcare organizations.

This included State Rep. Carol Ammons (D-Urbana), who said that Trump’s actions have risked lives across the globe.

“If we continue to allow a radical right agenda and not fund appropriately in Illinois,” Ammons said, “we will have a disconnection in our communities and all be worse off.”

State Rep Justin Slaughter (D-Chicago) said the HIV epidemic is a crisis in the Black community, and strongly calls on Illinois to continue supporting Black HIV groups.

“We are going to be demanding,” Slaughter said. “Not asking, demanding these resources come to our community.”

These leaders said they hope to hear the continuation of funding for Black HIV organizations in Gov. JB Pritzker’s budget address on February 19.