Black, HIV Positive, Poor and living in America
The New York Times commenting on a report by The Black AIDS Institute, writes on the extent of the HIV epidemic amongst African American in the USA.
The report financed in part by the Ford Foundation and the Elton John AIDS Foundation, ranked the virtual Black American country 16th in the world in the number of people living with the AIDS virus.
“Nearly 600,000 African-Americans are living with H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS, and up to 30,000 are becoming infected each year. When adjusted for age, their death rate is two and a half times that of infected whites, the report said. Partly as a result, the hypothetical nation of black America would rank below 104 other countries in life expectancy.”
Whilst Bush’s PEPFAR is guided by a strategic plan, the Black AIDS Institute criticises the Bush Administration for its lack of vision and strategy at home and for not reporting this data to the U.N.
“The Black AIDS Institute took note of that program in criticizing the administration’s efforts at home. The group said that more black Americans were living with the AIDS virus than the infected populations in Botswana, Ethiopia, Guyana, Haiti, Namibia, Rwanda or Vietnam — 7 of the 15 countries that receive support from the administration’s anti-AIDS program.”
But again, it is not all Black American who are at risk or affected by HIV, and if black can legitimately feel ignored what about those amongst the Black community who are most affected by HIV?
A recent CNN special documentary examined the issue of Black in America including the impact of AIDS, but failed to “explore HIV’s devastating impact among Black gay and bisexual men. In one significant federal study, researchers found that 46 percent of the Black gay and bisexual men they tested in seven major cities were HIV positive. That infection rate makes America’s Black gay and bisexual men among the hardest hit populations on the planet. That’s a story that must be told if we are to do something about it” wrote Phil Wilson of the Black AIDS Institute.
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Here in Africa, we believe an advanced society like America should have all the resources needed to combat HIV/AIDS. If that is not pulling along well, then I can only attribute it to carelessness and negligence
When you can quote a statistic that says more American blacks HIV/AIDS than do those in poorer, less stablilized countries, then that’s just crazy. I agree with the above posted that carelessness and negligence are mostly at fault here. There are services in place and education being given.
Young men refusing to wear condoms, and the female/male partner going right along with that…
THAT needs to stop.
No glove, no love, y’know?
You have to stand up for your own life. No one else is gonna do it for you.
It is important to distinguish between prevalence and incidence. The American Black AIDS Institute conflate in one figure the total number of People Living With HIV and AIDS (PLWHA) but does not described incidence, i.e. the number of new case per year and prevalence, i.e. the number of case within a population. All the African countries cited have much higher incidence and prevalence than that of the Black African within the US. So yes the situation is very worrying but figures should be used wisely.
[...] to stigma surrounding HIV. It is even more discouraging when epidemiological evidences show that African American are more vulnerable to HIV [...]
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