c. 2003 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ Federal and faith leaders Thursday (May 15) jointly announced a new partnership to combat HIV/AIDS among U.S. Hispanics.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson and the Rev. Luis Cortes Jr., president of Esperanza USA, said the “Pacto de Esperanza” (or Pact for Hope) will be the first national HIV/AIDS education initiative focused on the Hispanic faith community.

“We’re challenging … all Latino clergy, in America to educate themselves about HIV/AIDS,” said Cortes, whose organization is a national extension of Nueva Esperanza, a faith-based community development corporation in Philadelphia.

“We believe that by doing this we’ll be able to begin to stem the growing tide of HIV/AIDS in the Latino community.”

While Hispanics comprise 13 percent of the American population, they accounted for 18 percent of the total AIDS cases through December 2001, Thompson said.

In 2000, HIV/AIDS was the second leading cause of death for Hispanic men ages 35-44 and the fourth leading cause of death for Hispanic women of the same ages.

“We must do a much better job of reaching out to the Hispanic community with our education and prevention efforts,” Thompson said at a news conference at the conclusion of the National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast.

“We must all work together to save lives, prevent illness and to be able to hold our families together.”

He cited a survey released Thursday by the National Institutes of Health that found that 28 percent of Hispanics believe an HIV vaccine exists and is being kept a secret. With no such vaccine or cure, he said, it is important to continue efforts to explain how AIDS is transmitted.

The new initiative will eventually feature a song on HIV/AIDS to be composed by Latino gospel singer Marcos Witt and written materials such as sermon helps and bulletin inserts.

Although the funding has not been finalized, Bobby Polito, director of the HHS Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, told Religion News Service the first-year grant will likely amount to tens of thousands of dollars.

The pact features a page-and-a-half statement, written by a group of Latino theologians and church leaders, that declares that HIV/AIDS is affecting Hispanic churches. It urges respect for those coping with it, education on prevention and creation of pastoral care opportunities.

Cortes said his organization hopes to learn from similar efforts that are already in place in Anglo and African-American faith communities.

He said there are few local faith-based Hispanic ministries that are currently addressing HIV/AIDS.

The Rev. Rosa Caraballo, executive director of Bruised Reed Ministry in Bronx, N.Y., one of those ministries, welcomed the new initiative.

“Now we have an opportunity to be a stronger force, to unify, to be a body of prevention and a body of healing at the same time,” she said.

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