AIDS Services Inadequate, Minority Groups Say

People active in fighting AIDS in Los Angeles’ minority communities asked Wednesday for more resources and greater control over their own programs, saying their efforts are being hampered by culturally insensitive educational materials, counselors and medical personnel.

They made their appeal at a joint hearing of the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations and the county Commission on AIDS to explore the impact of the fatal disease on blacks, Asians, Latinos and other minorities. The commissions advise county Supervisors.

Ethnic groups account for a third of the county’s AIDS cases and they have some special problems. “White AIDS patients survive on average 18 months following diagnosis,” said Rabbi Allen Freehling, chairman of the AIDS Commission. “The survival period among people of color averages only 18 weeks.”

Authorities attribute the difference to such factors as lack of education about symptoms and prevention, cultural taboos that sometimes encourage hiding acquired immune deficiency syndrome and lack of ready access to doctors.

Juan C. Ledesma, coordinator of AIDS education for the East Los Angeles Rape Hotline, decried “the lack of educational materials and instruments which incorporate cultural values. All too often, AIDS education materials are produced by agencies which have little understanding about such values.”

Morris Pierce, director of AIDS education at the Watts Health Foundation, said: “You need black people to educate black people. You need Latino people to educate Latino people. . . . I’ve heard many people go to the white emotional support groups and they can’t relate.”