Irish musician and international HIV/AIDS advocate Bono on Friday will meet with Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and local church leaders in Oakland, Calif., to discuss HIV/AIDS awareness among the California Bay Area black community, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. According to the Alameda County Department of Public Health 2005 AIDS Epidemiology Report, 44% of the more than 6,800 AIDS cases in the county from 1980 to 2005 were among black residents. Lee said that Bono, who has advocated to raise millions of dollars for HIV/AIDS awareness and treatment in developing nations, will be able to "shine a spotlight" on how the disease affects the black community. Lee said the meeting will provide Bono with an opportunity to "not only learn about our efforts to fight [HIV/AIDS] but contribute to them" (Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle, 3/2). She said, "This visit provides an opportunity for an international AIDS activist to learn about what the epidemic looks like here in the United States and what we are doing to fight it," adding that she invited Bono to Oakland so he could "get a first-hand sense of what the epidemic looks like in the African-American community." According to Lee, "[O]ur work in Oakland is going to need to be informed by our work in Africa, and vice versa" (Richman, Oakland Tribune, 3/1). She said that in addition to outreach efforts made by local not-for-profits and government agencies, black churches also must be a part of the effort (San Francisco Chronicle, 3/2).