An ISU professor’s research on the impact of AIDS on African American communities in South Carolina was recognized recently on an international level.

Emily Moore, professor of educational leadership and policy studies, was a presenter at the 14th annual World AIDS Conference held July 7-12 in Barcelona, Spain.

Moore’s presentation, “Development of HIV prevention strategies among African American communities in Southern Rural Communities”, was chosen from over 10,000 submissions from 145 countries, she said.

Moore’s study, conducted in 1999, “examined the beliefs of ministers and community leaders about HIV and AIDS in southern rural communities,” she said.

“In South Carolina, the major location of this research, African Americans are 30 percent of the population and 71 percent of its HIV cases,” Moore said.

She said the study’s focus group information and survey results revealed “denial, stigmatization and silence about HIV and AIDS.”

“Ministers and community people agreed that AIDS was a contagious disease that people simply did not want to be around,” Moore said. “Some ministers referred to it as leprosy and a sin plague.”

Since religious leaders are quite influential in the lives of African Americans living in rural South Carolina, Moore said that learning the beliefs and practices of those leaders could give insight into community-based HIV prevention strategies.

Moore said she left the Barcelona conference with positive feelings toward the future of the impact of AIDS in the United States and worldwide.

“More people are aware of the virus and its impact on our world, more of us are taking responsibility for ourselves and others and more of us understand that AIDS is a mirror on our present and our future,” Moore said. “It can be a negative reflection for generations to come or we can act positively to stop its existence. We hold the outcome in our hands.”