Incidence Of HIV/AIDs On The Rise In The Latino Community.

World AIDS Day – the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the largest national Latino civil rights and advocacy organization, called for an intensified commitment by government, community-based health organizations, and the Hispanic community to HIV/AIDS prevention as new HIV/AIDS cases continue to increase in the Hispanic community, particularly among Latino youth. As with many other health issues affecting the Latino community, new increases in HIV infection rates and the disease’s disproportionate impact when compared to non-Hispanic Whites, can be traced to a lack of culturally and linguistically appropriate HIV/AIDS prevention information, a high rate of uninsurance, and an overall lack of health-related resources.

“We will not win the battle against this debilitating disease unless we make it a community priority to educate our youth, their parents, and community leaders about the growing rates of HIV infection and methods of prevention,” stated Janet Murguia, NCLR Executive Director and COO. “Denial of the problem will lead to further increases in the rates of HIV and AIDS among Latinos, and will result in an overwhelming health burden for a community already plagued by inadequate access to health care and health-related information.”

A recent study released by UNAIDS and the World Health Organization reports that nearly one million Americans are currently living with HIV/AIDS. Although Hispanics make up only 14% of the population of the United States and Puerto Rico, they account for nearly 20% of reported AIDS cases – the second-highest rate among all racial and ethnic minorities. Recent statistics suggest that if ignored, rates of HIV and AIDS will continue to grow within the Latino community, especially among youth and women:

•Despite an overall reduction of AIDS cases within the general population, new HIV infection rates among Hispanics increased more than 26% from 1999 to 2001.

•Latinos (62%) are more likely to be initially tested for HIV later in the course of their illness when compared to both African Americans (57%) and non-Hispanic Whites (42%).

•More than half of the new Latino cases of HIV infection in 2001 were among youth, accounting for 21.25% of all the cases for this age group (13 to 24).

•Latinas now represent 20% of AIDS cases among U.S. women, making Latinas seven times more likely than non-Hispanic Whites to be living with AIDS.

•HIV/AIDS is the fourth-leading killer of Hispanics between the ages of 24 and 44.

While current numbers already point to an alarming health problem, available statistics do not include data for new HIV infections from many U.S. states with large Latino populations. These include Texas and California, in which approximately 50% of the U.S. Latino population resides.

“Through NCLR-based research and prevention efforts in collaboration with several of our affiliates we are beginning to understand the many ways in which HIV/AIDS is affecting the Latino community,” continued Murguia. “However, we need real investment by government, hospitals and clinics, public health organizations, and community-based organizations both to get both a clearer picture of the rates of infection within our community and to support community-led prevention campaigns.”

Prevention messages are of particular importance to the community since high rates of uninsurance and uneven access to the public health care system contribute to a higher than average death rate from the disease. HIV-infected Latinos are twice as likely to have never received anti-retroviral therapy, and are twice as likely to die from the disease when compared to non-Hispanic Whites.

Murguia continued, “Focus groups of at-risk Latino populations and interviews with HIV-positive Latinos, which NCLR has conducted in collaboration with our community-based affiliates around the country, suggest that there is a grave lack of culturally and linguistically appropriate prevention information for Latino youth and their parents. This lack of information is often exacerbated by cultural norms that inhibit Latino families from conducting honest and candid dialogue about real life risks, and traditional HIV/AIDS prevention methods do not address the challenge of removing the stigma and fear of the disease within our community.”

The good news about HIV/AIDS is that individual changes in behavior can drastically curb its spread and impact; the harder news to swallow is that with such individual power comes enormous responsibility for our community. The Latino population merits the chance to learn that HIV and AIDS are often manageable and preventable with access to appropriate primary care and prevention education. We have both the power and the responsibility to decrease the impact of HIV/AIDS as we continue to develop peer-to-peer, community-led, and family support structures for our youth and emerging immigrant communities who are most at risk,” concluded Murguia.

For more information at http://www.nclr.org