Free Press calls on Bing to address HIV crisis in Detroit

On Sunday, the Detroit Free Press published an editorial calling on Detroit Mayor David Bing to confront the AIDS problem in that city.

The editorial notes that no chief executive of Michigan’s largest city has seriously addressed the issue since then-Mayor Dennis Archer in 2001. The Free Press says Bing should participate in the annual AIDS Walk on September 25. Here is their reasoning for that:

Detroit’s AIDS epidemic is worthy of some straight talk from city leaders, including Mayor Dave Bing.

That’s the only thing that will ease the stigma of the disease and promote routine testing and safer sex. The shameful and deadly silence that continues to shroud HIV stifles the knowledge and understanding that can prevent the spread of the virus.

But while Bing has so far been silent, other city leaders have not. Before taking office, Detroit City Council President Charles Pugh talked about the issue with Michigan Messenger. In that interview in November of 2009, he said the city needed to become a squeaky wheel to get the attention other urban centers have had lavished on them.

The Free Press tells the statistical story of the seriousness of the AIDS epidemic in Detroit:

With less than 10% of the state’s population, Detroit has nearly 40% of its estimated 18,800 HIV and AIDS cases. Infection rates for African Americans, who make up more than 80% of Detroit’s people, are 10 times higher than for whites. Nationwide, African Americans make up 13% of the population but more than 50% of all new HIV infections.

While those are certainly eye opening numbers, the Free Press misses another important one. According to statistics kept by the State of Michigan’s Department of Community Health, in January of this year, over half of the city’s zip codes have HIV prevalence rates of three, four and five percent. One zip code has a prevalence rate of six percent — which is on par with Uganda.