African American women and HIV/AIDS: a national call for targeted health communication strategies to address a disparity.

African American women are disproportionately affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States. To address this disparity, the CDC released a call for targeted communication campaigns in African American communities. The mass media is an HIV/AIDS information source used by African Americans, and media initiatives can be cost-effective for delivering HIV prevention messages. Needed is research in communities at risk to determine the messages needed and the preferred formats and channels with which to deliver the messages so that targeted communication campaigns can be part of the multifaceted approach to ending the HIV/AIDS disparity affecting African American women.