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MEXICO CITY -- Angered that the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the African American community has been neglected and is on the rise, while U.S government funding has been stagnant and its priorities have been global, Black leaders gathered in Mexico City called for the U.S. government to create and implement a new National AIDS strategy.

During a news conference at the XVII International AIDS Conference Monday, the group also appealed for the U.S government to commit $1.3 billion annually to HIV prevention, an amount they said is needed to reverse the large and growing AIDS epidemic in the U.S, especially in the African American community where the largest growth is occurring.

Those gathered for the press conference included Phill Wilson, CEO of the Black AIDS Institute; Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Calif.); Dr. Helene Gayle, president and CEO of CARE; Sheryl Lee Ralph, actress and activist; Jacob Gayle, deputy vice president of the Ford Foundation; and Pernessa C. Seele, founder and CEO of the Balm in Gilead, Inc.

This call for a new strategy and increased funding has gained more urgency in recent days as the U.S. government has acknowledged what Black leaders have known all along: the U.S has been systematically undercounting its epidemic and consistently failing to respond to the needs of those infected and those at risk.

On Sunday, the CDC announced that the spread of the disease was 40 percent higher than their annual estimates.

“The U.S. is failing its people and that is a direct attack on Black America,” said Wilson of the Black AIDS Institute. “This failure to respond is particularly acute in the epidemic in Black America. The institute has just released a report titled “Left Behind,” which illustrates just how profoundly AIDS in the United States has become a Black disease. Among its findings:

• Twenty-seven years after the identification of AIDS and 12 years after combination antiretroviral therapy became available, 500,000 Black Americans are infected, with as many as 30,000 new infections in Black Americans each year.

• As new data show that people can live healthy lives indefinitely on antiretrovirals, AIDS is still the leading killer of young Black women between 25-34 years of age and the second-leading cause of death in black men between 35-44.

• A Black woman in the United States is 23 times more likely than a white woman to be diagnosed with AIDS.

“We’re not here to wring our hands about the situation,” he added. “We are calling today for a National AIDS Strategy…a clear, aggressive plan of action to provide HIV education, prevention and treatment to all who need it. This National AIDS Strategy would be the equivalent of a `U.S. PEPFAR,´ incorporating many of the same approaches the U.S. recommends for other countries with serious HIV epidemics.”

Saying there is no more time for talk, but action, the leaders said the strategy must address the following: