Employees of Western Maine Community Action Health Services unfold panels of the Aids Memorial Quilt for display at the Lisbon Street office Friday. The quilt features the names of Maine people who have died from the disease and is on display to raise awareness, said Nancy Audet, program manager at WMCA Health Services. The sections of quilt mark the halfway point for Saturday’s two-mile AIDS Walk Lewiston/Auburn. The fundraiser begins at 10 a.m. at New Beginnings on Main Street, with registration at 9 a.m. Proceeds will benefit HIV prevention services for youth and young adults. “But the goal is to raise awareness,” Audet said. Pictured, clockwise from bottom left, are Kathy Coleman, Donna Crockett, Audet and Becky Angelides.

INFO BOX:

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are about 40 percent more new HIV infections each year than previously believed, while a new survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation has found that the nation’s sense of urgency about HIV/AIDS as a national health problem has fallen dramatically, even among groups considered at higher risk.

According to the Kaiser study:

• The share of Americans naming HIV/AIDS as the most urgent health problem facing the nation dropped from 44 percent in 1995, to 17 percent in 2006 and stands at 6 percent now.

• CDC estimates that HIV rates are seven times higher among African Americans and three times higher among Latinos compared to whites, but those in the higher-risk groups have developed less fear of the disease since 2006, declining from 23 to 17 percent of all adults, 49 to 40 percent of African Americans and 46 to 35 percent of Latinos.

• The share of those ages 18-29 who say they are personally very concerned about becoming infected with HIV declined from 30 percent in 1997 to 17 percent today; personal concern among young African Americans declined from 54 to 40 percent over the same time period.

• More than half of non-elderly adults say they have been tested for HIV, including 19 percent tested in the past year. Testing is most common among adults under 30 years, with three in 10 young adults and 47 percent of young African Americans tested in the past year.

• Half of the American public thinks the federal government spends too little on domestic HIV/AIDS; 5 percent think government spends too much. An estimated 36 percent of Americans have donated money to an HIV/AIDS-related charity, including nearly half of African Americans.

• The negative stigma associated with HIV/AIDS has dropped, with a slow and steady increase since the late 1990s in the share of people who say they would be very comfortable with a co-worker who has HIV/AIDS, 44 percent now compared to 32 percent in 1997. However, 51 percent of the public say they would be uncomfortable having their food prepared by someone who is HIV positive.