Crack... Sex... AIDS. (1991)

SF AIDS Foundation launches aggressive HIV prevention campaign targetting African American women who use crack

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, MAY 22, 1991 -- Responding to an emerging link between crack use and a greater risk of HIV infection, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF), with input from a broad coalition of African American community groups, today unveiled a bold and direct prevention campaign specifically designed to reach African American women who use crack.

The poster campaign, which appears on the inside and outside of Muni buses in San Francisco starting today, features a photo of an African American woman holding a condom and carries the simple slogan: "CRACK . . . SEX . . . AIDS."

"Most crack users don't know they're at risk for HIV infection and we need to get the message to them now," said Les Pappas, SFAF campaign development coordinator.

He added, "This prevention campaign could not have been produced without a strong collaborative effort from the African American community. We need this spirit of cooperation to succeed in our prevention efforts."

According to studies by the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, (CAPS), many crack users smoke the drug as a prelude to unsafe sex, a practice that has been associated with a recent increase in the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV.

In San Francisco, African American women account for a disproportionately high incidence rate of HIV. In 1990, African Americans comprised 34 percent of female AIDS cases, and the seroprevalance rate for Black women attending a sexually transmitted disease clinic in San Francisco more than doubled from 1.6 percent to 3.4 percent between 1989 and 1990.

CAPS and other studies indicate that African American women who use crack are at very high risk for HIV. AIDS prevention groups are particularly concerned about the risk of HIV infection among women who use crack.

"Crack addiction and the craving for more crack lead many women to trade sex for crack," said Cassandra Taylor, outreach supeisor for the California Prostitutes Education Project, (CAL-PEP). "This HIV prevention campaign is desperately needed by women who find themselves in this situation."

"One of the most important issues confronting the African American community today is drug abuse," said Dr. Eric Goosby, director of the UCSF AIDS Substance Abuse Clinic. "AIDS is the other important issue to be confronted. Education can still reach those who are not yet infected. Health care professionals have a moral and socio-political obligation to get this message out."

The "CRACK . . . SEX . . . AIDS" prevention campaign which includes posters and brochures was designed in consultation with more than 50 community organizations. Individuals from each of the agencies were invited to provide input to the conceptualization and development of the materials. Noel Day, president of Polaris--a public and social policy consulting firm--facilitated the community meetings convened by the AIDS Foundation.

"We consulted with a diverse group of people from the African American and AIDS service communities and the group decided to focus on Black female crack users. Their sexual behaviors and frequent involvement in other kinds of drug use puts them at great risk of HIV infection," said Noel Day. "Then we ran focus groups with two different samples drawn from two different areas of San Francisco to get direct feedback from the women the campaign is targeting. The result is an HIV prevention campaign that fills an important gap. It sends a clear, direct and easy to understand message to African American women who smoke crack."

In addition to the SFAF, AIDS Health Project, California Prostitutes Education Project, 18th Street Services, Haight Ashbury Free Clinics HIV Disease Program, Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program, National Task Force on AIDS Prevention, and the Stop AIDS Project are among the participating groups.