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HIV/AIDS Epidemic in the Black Community – It’s Official

By Carmen D. on Monday, March 16th, 2009, 7:24 am Comments

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To be blunt, because there is no time for niceties, I am sick and tired of black leaders, secular and religious, not talking about sexual practices in the black community and not talking about how HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases are ravaging the black community.

Now those ’speak no evil’ types will have little choice but to break their silence because it’s official. It is confirmed that, at least in Washington DC, HIV/AIDS is epidemic:

At least 3 percent of District residents have HIV or AIDS, a total that far surpasses the 1 percent threshold that constitutes a "generalized and severe" epidemic, according to a report scheduled to be released by health officials tomorrow.

That translates into 2,984 residents per every 100,000 over the age of 12 — or 15,120 — according to the 2008 epidemiology report by the District’s HIV/AIDS office.

"Our rates are higher than West Africa," said Shannon L. Hader, director of the District’s HIV/AIDS Administration, who once led the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s work in Zimbabwe. "They’re on par with Uganda and some parts of Kenya."

"We have every mode of transmission" — men having sex with men, heterosexual and injected drug use — "going up, all on the rise, and we have to deal with them," Hader said. Source

Infection rates higher than West Africa? More like Uganda? This is not rocket science. We know how to prevent the sexual transmission of HIV/AIDS and every other STD. Practice abstinence or use condoms and dental dams if you are sexually active. This situation is inexcusable and the excessive weight this epidemic will put on our health care system is daunting:

So urgent is the concern that the HIV/AIDS Administration took the relatively rare step of couching the city’s infections in a percentage, harkening to 1992, when San Francisco, around the height of its epidemic, announced that 4 percent of its population was HIV positive. But the report also cautions that "we know that the true number of residents currently infected and living with HIV is certainly higher."

The District’s report found a 22 percent increase in HIV and AIDS cases from the 12,428 reported at the end of 2006, touching every race and sex across population and neighborhoods, with an epidemic level in all but one of the eight wards. Black men, with an infection rate of nearly 7 percent, carry the weight of the disease, according to the report, which also underscores that the District’s HIV and AIDS population is aging. Almost 1 in 10 residents between the ages of 40 and 49 has the virus.

[ ]

Men having sex with men has remained the disease’s leading mode of transmission. Heterosexual transmission and injection drug use closely follow, the report says. Three percent of black women carry the virus, partly a result of the increase in heterosexual transmissions.

"This is very, very depressing news, especially considering HIV’s profound impact on minority communities," said Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institutes of Health’s program on infectious diseases. "And remember: The city’s numbers are just based on people who’ve gotten tested." Source

There is much more information in the full article. Read More : HIV/AIDS rate hits 3% in DC

Visit The Black AIDS Institute Website

Do you use protection EVERYTIME you have sex outside of marriage?

  • Religions have been banning using condoms because it opposes to the law of the god but by doing that means lots of diseases especially the HIV/AIDS. We should use the protective things when we have sexual intercourse to prevent problems.
  • Melissa
    Wow this really is sad on so many levels for me. I am a Ugandan American and a DMV resident. All this is really scary to me and what's even scarier is that it seems like things are only going to get worse. There are so many complex reasons why this is happening and so much that needs to be done to attack them. It goes beyond race, economics, etc. One issue I think really needs to be attacked is homophobia in the black community. We need to stop making homosexual brothas feel afraid to come out by being so openly anti-gay. If brothas weren't so afraid to be found out they wouldn't be so careless with their sexual activities and mess around with infected men and pass the disease on to women. I know its more complex than that but this is one issue that I think really needs to be addressed. Immediately.
  • Actually it doesn`t matter if you´re yellow, black, white or green. The Virus doesn`t care if you´re gay, lesbian, transgender, hetero, drug user, man, woman or a child. Be responsible for yourself and protect yourself if you have Sex with any partner you don´t know. If you live in an relationship - show responsibility for yourself - your partner. If you´re HIV positive - protect yourself when having sex with someone you don´t know. If you´re on medication with vl under the detection limit as per EKAF Statement Prof. Pietro Vernazza . . . well even than talk about it.
  • Hello AlivenKickn, thank you for your comment. You are exactly right! The virus only cares about opportunity not skin color, financial status, gender - nothing. It is a cunning, ruthless SOB!
  • Back to why the rates are increasing -- the general consensus is that people aren't sure. But one of the more compelling articles I read listed among drug users, was the increase of prison population (which has a very high infection rate for various reasons), the increase of having concurrent partners, etc.

    But what it all boiled down to is practicing safe sex. Currently "safe sex" is seen as finding someone you "trust" and having unprotected sex with them. Thus all the emphasis on spotting cheating behaviors in your partner, and by all means how to tell if they are on the down low or not. I can understand, in a way, why getting people to practice safe sex. It's seen as a way of saying you don't trust the words coming out of your partners mouth. You can imagine the reaction I got when I suggested that everyone who is sexually active should at least get tested to a group of married women ;)
    N.E. Way, we have to make "safe sex" seem cool again without any negative connatations.
    --
    Oh and I'm getting more than a little tired of all these articles showcasing the new face/victim population of AIDS. I've read articles about the elderly, migrant workers, Blacks, Hispanics, young people, women....People read them and if they aren't in the immediate population, they'll get complacent, thinking they're exempt even from the epidemic. The message has to be pushed that EVERYONE is in potential danger.
  • Hi Kjen, thank you for taking time to leave a comment. Yes it is true that EVERYONE is in potential danger but perception is reality. If those of us engaged in non-risky behavior don't believe it can happen to us then we will not clamor for resources to be allocated for fighting HIV/AIDS. There IS an epidemic raging in the black community. You can be put off by this fact if you want to, but I refuse to stop talking about it. If one person decides to use condoms or dental dams after reading my post then my objective will have been achieved.

    SILENCE=DEATH
  • RXB
    We can stem this Epidemic by not making this a "black disease". Apparently we didn't learn from the results of calling this a "gay disease", it was allowed to spread into the straight community. Do you believe we're going to get anyone to shed tears for us if it is a "black problem"? In the 21st century we as a people are still viewed as less than, because of that AIDS/HIV needs to attacked as a universal problem. I 'm from Los angeles and I remember gangs and drive bys weren't considered a issue until it spilled out of the "black community" I'm not being negative, but history has proven that a "black problem" has to be seen as a universal problem. If not no one cares.
  • Katherine
    I'm still stuck on this comment:

    "The “black community” is a creation of white racism."

    As far as AIDS/HIV, it's a global problem...regardless of color. If studies are revealing that this disease is growing within a particular race, then we should ALL take that seriously.

    AIDS/HIV Awareness campaigns seem to be waning and this alarming study might resurrect slogans of SAFE SEX, etc.
  • RXB
    Remember the study that concludes 50% of all black teens have an STD was based on a study group of a small at risk population It would be like talking to 4 black men and finding that 2 are unemployed could I conclude 50% of black males are unemployed? Here's a question , how many whites infected make it a white disease? It's interesting when it's white it the failing of an individual, but for blacks it just our nature.Another part of the 21st century mindset is to stop allowing ourselves to be viewed as an animal to be studied. Our chldren deserve more than that.
  • RXB, who said anything about promiscuity being "our nature"? Please read my comment and the post closely. I argue that these are reckless choices being made.

    And as far as study size, I am sure you know that is how data and studies are done. Results are extrapolated from samples. Are they reliable? Sometimes. Still, I do volunteer work and I can tell you there is a crisis of lack of self esteem among the young black (and Latino) girls I meet.

    RXB, let's move to the positive. What are YOUR ideas about how to stem this epidemic?
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