(Washington, DC, August 14, 2006) — Since yesterday, Sunday, August 13, Delegate to Congress Donna M. Christensen has been speaking at several events at the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto, Canada.  Christensen who is a member of the Black Leadership Delegation has been speaking on the impact that the pandemic has had on black people worldwide including in the Virgin Islands and the public policy initiatives that are needed to stem the devastation after 25 years.

On Sunday, Christensen was a panelist along with Julian Bond, Bill Duke, Rep. Barbara Lee, Rev. Ed Saunders and Sandra Goodridge in the forum entitled “Moving Forward,” the State of AIDS in Black America.  She was also interviewed on Toronto’s Radio CFRB on the same topic and she did a PSA for the Black AIDS Institute.

This morning, Delegate Christensen gave the keynote address on the role of black leaders in the fight against HIV/AIDS in the African diaspora.

As a physician and the Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust, Delegate Christensen has played a leadership role in the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the United States, the Caribbean and in the Virgin Islands.  There are an estimated 1.3 million people living with HIV/AIDS in the United States.  Nearly half of that number are African American who account for 40% of all AIDS deaths, despite representing only 13% of the U.S. population. Despite its small size and population, the Virgin Islands has one of the ten highest AIDS case rates in the United States.  In fact, while the overall U.S. AIDS case rate is 15.0,  in the Virgin Islands, it is 18.4.  Nearly 2 in every 3 reported AIDS cases in the Virgin Islands are among blacks and one in four is among hispanics.

Christensen returns to the territory tomorrow to participate in the Caribbean Fishery Management Council meetings being held on St. Croix.