Chicago pastors
promote HIV awareness and testing

More than 50 pastors in Chicago are aiming to increase awareness and testing for HIV in the African-American community by getting tested themselves on Friday at a South Side church, reports ChicagoDefender.com.

The Pastors Network, an organization of churches throughout Cook County, paired with the Let's Talk, Let's Test Foundation to raise awareness of HIV.

The Reverend Tyrone Crider, president of the Pastors Network and pastor of Mt. Calvary Baptist Church in Chicago, said LTLTF's Lloyd Kelly "came to me to help get more churches involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS. I told him the network would get involved and we committed to take the test," Crider told the Defender.

The Illinois Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control report that African-Americans accounted for 15% of Illinois's state population in 2005, yet accounted for at least 50% of all new HIV infections and 52% of AIDS cases.

LTLTF is the leading advocacy and public policy agency in Illinois for HIV and AIDS issues in the black community. (The Advocate)