This is going to be a short diary. My only purposes here are to note the fact that today is National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day and to link members of this site to some of the discussion among members of the African-American community who are involved in the fight against HIV. As someone living with the virus, I didn't want to let this day pass unnoticed.
Follow me below the fold for a bit more info.
Over the decades, the face of the HIV epidemic has changed. In its early days, HIV was thought to be a disease that was largely confined to gay, white men. Even today, men who have sex with men (MSM) still account for the majority of new infections, constituting 57% of new HIV infections in 2006 according to the CDC. As the linked article shows, the rate of HIV prevalence among MSM in the United States is estimated at 19%.
But the epidemic is hitting the African-American community as well. The HIV prevalence rate among African-American MSM is estimated at 28%, significantly higher than the rate of prevalence among MSM as a whole. In addition, as TheBody.com editor Kellee Terrell notes, HIV is now the number one killer of black women ages 24 to 35. Kellee gives us some of the statistics:
AIDS is the number one killer of black women ages 24-35. Black men who have sex with men (MSM) have the highest HIV rate among all racial groups of MSM. Overall, while African Americans make up a mere 14 percent of the overall U.S. population, they account for more than half of all new HIV infections that are diagnosed each year. And to make matters worse, African Americans are more likely to be diagnosed with HIV and AIDS at the same time than any other racial group, meaning they're less likely to get tested until they're very ill.
There is no single cause for the spread of HIV among African-Americans, but as Phill Wilson, CEO of the Black AIDS Institute points out, race and poverty play a key role:
Is race or poverty the driver of HIV in Black communities? We believe this is essentially a difference without a distinction. In America, Black people are disproportionately poor. Almost 25 percent of Blacks live in poverty, compared to 9 percent of Whites. According to a study by U.S. Department of Agriculture, nine out of every 10 Black Americans who reach the age of 75 spend at least one of their adult years in poverty. The uncertainty about why Blacks are disproportionately infected has never been about biological or genetic determinants -- or for that matter even difference in levels of risk behavior. It has always been driven by social determinants of health: socioeconomic status, high rates of sexually transmitted diseases, high rates of incarceration, man sharing (knowingly and unknowingly) due to gender imbalances, lack of access to healthcare, lack of a regular health provider and low HIV literacy. These overlap significantly with the issues driving the AIDS epidemic in poor communities of all races.
One obstacle to addressing the issue of HIV in the African-American community (as in others) is that much of what we think we know is dead wrong. Contrary to what is reported in the mainstream media, African-American men on the "down low" are not a driving force behind the epidemic in the black community. And black gay men actually practice safer sex at higher rates than their white gay counterparts. Any discussion of this issue could therefore use a healthy dose of cold, hard facts.
A good place to find those facts is at TheBody.com's African-American HIV/AIDS Resource Center. (Full disclosure: I'm a blogger for TheBody.com.) You'll find information, resources, and the personal stories of African-Americans living with HIV. If you're looking to enhance your awareness of this topic, I urge you to check it out.
Thanks for reading.