Acting White: STOPPING BLACK HIV/AIDS

I clipped this info from the theloop21.com site, because facts are so much more meaningful than slogans. Putting the words STOP AIDS over a black hand would have been more inclusive and less Spike Lee-ish, but that's a small nit. Moving on, if the push is about black people taking responsibility for the behaviors that make AIDS a leading killer, let's do it. But a word to the wise, stopping AIDS, like violence, will require America to approach the problem differently. The behavior systems in America's 'urban-islands' more closely resemble those of places like Lagos, Nigeria, Africa's most advanced industrial city, rather than the white-majority melting pots of the US. This is the simple answer of why earlier US programs have, so far, failed the black demographic, while capturing others. They do not meet the issues of this audience head-on. Talking about it is the place to start. I'm in.
/JC

THE FACTS

HIV/AIDS AND YOUNG BLACKS

In 2005, the rate of AIDS diagnoses in black adults and adolescents was 10 times the rate for whites and nearly
three times the rate for Hispanics.

In 2004, African Americans were disproportionately affected by HIV infection, accounting for 55 percent of all
HIV infections reported among people ages 13–24.

Of the estimated 18,849 people under the age of 25 whose diagnosis of HIV/AIDS was made during 2001–2004 in the 33 states with HIV reporting, 11,554 (61 percent) were black.

In 2007, nearly 20 percent of people infected with HIV residing in the District of Columbia were between the age 13-29 at the time of their diagnosis.

In Georgia, the rate of adult/adolescent HIV/AIDS cases was 81.2 per 100,000 for African-Americans in 2005 and 8.7 per 100,000 for whites.

Of the 68 U.S. children (younger than 13 years of age) who had a new AIDS diagnosis in 2005, 46 were black.

Of the estimated 141 infants perinatally infected with HIV in 2005, 91 or 65 percent were black.

HIV/AIDS AND BLACK WOMEN

One in 30 black women will be diagnosed with HIV at some point in their lifetime.

The rate of AIDS diagnoses for black women was nearly 23 times the rate for white women in 2005.

AIDS was the leading cause of death in 2006 for black women 25 to 34.

Of the 126,964 women living with HIV/AIDS in 2005, 64 percent were black, 19 percent were white, 15 percent were Hispanic, one percent were Asian or Pacific Islander, and less than one percent were American Indian or Alaskan Native.

Of 40,608 AIDS diagnoses in the 50 states and the District of Columbia for 2005, 10,774 (26 percent) were women.

HIV/AIDS AND BLACK MEN

One in 16 black men will be diagnosed with HIV at some point in their lifetime.

The rate of AIDS diagnoses for black men was eight times the rate for white men in 2005.

AIDS was the second leading cause of death in 2006 for black men ages 35 to 44.

Of the Washington, D.C., residents living with HIV/AIDS in 2008, 76.3 percent were black and 71.7 percent were male.

The rate of adult/adolescent AIDS cases for African-American males (118.7 per 100,000) was eight times that of white males (14 per 100,000) in Georgia in 2005.

THE COST OF HIV/AIDS

The total lifetime cost of illness for Americans newly diagnosed with HIV in 2002 is approximately $36.4 billion.

While whites incur more direct medical costs than blacks for HIV treatment, blacks suffer greater financial damage from loss of productivity.

In 2007, over half of the 900,000 Americans living with HIV died from the virus.

HIV/AIDS is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States.

The U.S. Agency for International Development for funding HIV/AIDS in the region is expected to increase its funds to $30 billion by 2010.

Sources: District of Columbia Department of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, The Georgia Department of Community Health Office and Health Improvement, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Congressional Research Service Report, Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes (JAIDS)

James C. Collier

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