Federal and faith leaders on May 15 jointly announced a new partnership to combat HIV/AIDS among U.S. Hispanics

Christian Century, June 14, 2003

* Federal and faith leaders on 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 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. While Hispanics constitute 13 percent of the American population, they accounted for 18 percent of all AIDS cases through December 2001, Thompson said in a news conference following the National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C.