peripheries

Conspiracy too, kills

The 21st century AIDS epidemics in the US is young, Black and gay. This was one of the major outcome of the 2008 AIDS conference. Several reasons have been advanced to explain why this particular population has been and is more at risk of infection. One that has received little attention so far was explored several years ago. In 2005 Laura Bogart and Sheryl Thorburn conducted a telephone survey to assess the relation between the endorsement of HIV/AIDS conspiracy beliefs and condom attitudes amongst African Americans (J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2005, 38(2):213-8).

Out of the 500 respondents to their survey, a significant proportion endorsed HIV/AIDS conspiracy beliefs. The beliefs were significantly stronger amongst men than women and were significantly associated with more negative attitudes and inconsistent use of condoms.

Suspicions about health information and condoms provided by Public health services may be rooted in the mistrust of government in general. Previous studies have shown that the belief in conspiracy theories could be tracked far back in time (Ann Epidemiol. 1993, 3(2):193-5.) and were prevalent amongst Africans Americans but not White men (J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2006, 3:342-4). These beliefs create a barriers to HIV prevention interventions and translate into more negative attitudes towards condoms use, HIV testing and treatment uptake.

Though not without limitation, a more recent research work conducted in South Africa, Bogart and colleagues observed that only age and genocidal beliefs about HIV were significant predictors of having been tested for HIV. Amongst various genocidal beliefs, only the genocidal belief that “AIDS was introduced by White people as a way to control Black Africans” was significantly associated with not being tested for HIV (J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2008, 49(1):115-6).

In both studies the role of the government is fundamental in creating or fostering conspiracy or genocidal beliefs. The US has blatantly ignored the AIDS epidemic amongst it African American community and in South Africa, Thabo Mbeki and Manto Tshabalala Msimang’s fretting with AIDS denialists and inconsistent messages about the cause of AIDS have sent all the wrong signals.

These studies have clear implications for prevention interventions:

“Based on the large number of individuals who endorsed HIV/AIDS conspiracy beliefs [...], it is important for researchers and practitioners to integrate such beliefs into safer sex education message targeting Africans Americans, especially Black men” and crucially, “to obtain the trust of back community, governments and public health entities need to acknowledge the origin of conspiracy belief openly in the context of historical discrimination [...]” in the US and get their facts right in South Africa.

Now any good conspiracy theorist will have noticed that Laura M. Bogart, PhD is an employee of the RAND Corporation, a global policy think tank set up in 1946 by the United States Army Air Forces and often at the heart of many conspiracy theories. For them, these studies would only be another proof that that White people are conspiring against Black people.

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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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