National Minority AIDS Council Building Healthier Communities

HIV/AIDS in Communities of Color

Below are general story ideas around HIV/AIDS and minorities in the U.S. For interviews, please call (202) 352-7240 or e-mail communications@nmac.org.

Resources available from USCA's sponsor, NMAC:

See USCA Sponsor, NMAC's press release,  related to the CDC's recent announcement concerning HIV infection rates in the United States. In it, NMAC says HIV/AIDS is part of an overall health crisis in communities of color.

To learn more about the Minority AIDS Initiative, click here to read The Minority AIDS Initiative: Meeting the Challenges in Communities of Color Nationwide.

You also may want to click here to read the historic document, Extending the Reach of the Ryan White CARE Act: The Minority AIDS Initiative.

Click here to read African Americans, Health Disparities and HIV/AIDS: Recommendations for Confronting the Epidemic in Black America.

2008 USCA sessions of note include:

Friday, September 19, Plenary Luncheon, 12:15 p.m. - 1:45 p.m.

• The 10^th Anniversary of the Minority AIDS Initiative (MAI)
  Location: Hall A, 1st Floor
  See the Press Release: USCA to Honor 10th Anniversary of the Minority AIDS Initiative
  
  

Notes about HIV/AIDS in communities of color:

• Since the HIV/AIDS epidemic began over 25 years ago, HIV/AIDS has had a disproportionate impact on communities of color across the United States.

  
  

• African Americans represent nearly 50% of all new HIV infections reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) each year, though they compose only 13% of the U.S. population.
  
  

• Over half of the people in the U.S. who have died of AIDS since the epidemic began in 1981 have been black.
  
  

• AIDS is one of the leading causes of death overall among people of African descent, and is the number one killer of black women aged 25-34.
  
  

• For black MSM: A CDC study of MSM found that 46% of the black MSM tested for HIV were positive, compared to 21% of the white MSM and 17% of the Hispanic MSM. 

  
  

• Latinos, who account for nearly 20% of all new HIV/AIDS diagnoses reported to the CDC annually, have a rate of infection that is 3 times higher for males and 5 times higher for females than for their white, non-Hispanic counterparts.
  
  

• The opening plenary of the United States Conference on AIDS will be dedicated to Latinos.

  
  
• HIV/AIDS numbers related to Latinos often do not include Puerto Rico, which has reported high rates of HIV infection. The efforts of Puerto Rico’s AIDS agencies have been hampered by controversial issues around government funding.
  
  

• Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and Native Americans/Alaska Natives also are reporting rising HIV/AIDS rates.
  
  

Why is HIV and AIDS so high among minorities?

• Ethnicity, in itself, is not a risk factor for HIV/AIDS; however, the social, economic, educational and political disenfranchisement experienced by many African Americans nationwide have helped fuel HIV infections in black communities.

  
  

• Young people in general don't know they are at risk. 

  
  

• The media has given the impression that AIDS is happening elsewhere.

  
  

• Strong stigmas around sexuality and mistrust of health care institutions in many communities of color present barriers to HIV/AIDS outreach, education, testing, treatment  and care.
  
  

Isn't AIDS a manageable disease, like diabetes?

• To some extent, yes - people living with HIV/AIDS, especially when they have access to treatment, are enjoying longer lives.
  
  

• No one living with HIV/AIDS would advise others to risk becoming positive. AIDS drugs are very powerful and have many side-effects - from short-term memory loss to lipid displacement to facial wasting. Some of these side-effects can seriously undermine your health - especially when coupled with other illnesses, such as hepatitis, diabetes, heart disease, etc.
  
  

• Once you start drug therapy, you can never stop.