Majority Of African Americans Say U.S. Is Losing Ground On HIV/AIDS.

A majority of African Americans (56%) say the U.S. is losing ground when it comes to the problem of HIV/AIDS — an 18 percentage point increase since October 2003 — according to a new national survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, conducted this spring. By comparison, three in ten Latinos and 33% of whites say the U.S. is losing ground. Young African Americans (age 18-29) are even more pessimistic with two-thirds (67%) saying the U.S. is losing ground.

Overall, the public ranks HIV/AIDS second, behind cancer, as the most urgent health problem facing the nation, but HIV/AIDS ranks first among African Americans and, after several years of decline, this sense of urgency has increased somewhat since 2002. More than four in ten African Americans (43%), 31% of Latinos, and 17% of whites say that HIV/AIDS is the most urgent health problem facing the nation.

In addition to being the most concerned about HIV/AIDS for the nation, African Americans are also most likely to say they personally know someone who currently has or has died from HIV/AIDS (64%), compared with about four in ten whites (42%) and Latinos (41%). Even among younger adults (age 18-29) and particularly among young minorities, large percentages say they know someone — 61% of African American, 34% of white, and 42% of Latino.

They are also much more likely to say they are personally very concerned about becoming infected with HIV than Latinos and whites. More than four in ten African Americans (43%) say they are personally very concerned, compared to 30% of Latinos and 10% of whites. The differences in concern are also reflected among parents of children age 21 or younger. Two-thirds of African American parents (66%) and nearly half of Latinos (46%) say they are very concerned about their children becoming infected with HIV, compared with about a quarter (26%) of white parents.

“The sense of urgency revealed in the survey should send a message to local leaders and especially elected officials that HIV is something that the African American community really cares about,” said Drew Altman, Ph.D., President and CEO of the Kaiser Family Foundation.

These new findings are part of the Kaiser Family Foundation’s national Survey of Americans on HIV/AIDS. This portion is the third of three releases from the survey. Part One was released on June 2, 2004 and focused on Americans’ views of the global HIV/AIDS epidemic. Part Two released on June 15 focused on Americans’ views and experiences with HIV testing.

U.S. Spending on Domestic HIV/AIDS

— Eight in ten African Americans (80%) and nearly two-thirds (64%) of people under the age of thirty say that the federal government spends too little money fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the U.S., compared with just under half of whites (49%) and Latinos (45%).

— Nearly six in ten people overall (57%) believe that spending more money on HIV/AIDS prevention in the U.S. will lead to meaningful progress in slowing the epidemic, while about a third (34%) think that spending money won’t make much difference. African Americans (64%) are somewhat more likely than whites (55%) to think that spending on prevention will lead to meaningful progress.

Knowledge and Misconceptions about HIV/AIDS

— The public is well-informed about certain aspects of the HIV epidemic — large shares know that there is no cure for AIDS (90%), that there are drugs that can lengthen the lives of those with HIV (88%), and that as many as one in every three HIV-positive people in the U.S. don’t know they are infected (84%). People are less well-informed about other aspects, including key prevention and treatment issues — for example, just over four in ten know that a pregnant woman with HIV can take drugs to reduce the risk of her baby being born infected (43%). Fifty-four percent of African Americans and 57% of Latinos know that having another sexually transmitted disease increases a person’s risk of getting HIV, compared with just over a third of whites (36%).

— Virtually all know that HIV can be transmitted by having unprotected intercourse (99%), sharing an IV needle (99%), and having unprotected oral sex (91%). However, significant numbers say that it is possible (or they don’t know) to transmit HIV through various forms of casual contact, including kissing (38%), sharing a drinking glass (25%), and touching a toilet seat (18%). African Americans are somewhat more likely to say it is possible (or they don’t know) to transmit HIV by kissing (48%) and by sharing a drinking glass (34%), while Latinos are somewhat more likely to think HIV can be transmitted by touching a toilet seat (31%).

Sources of Information About HIV/AIDS

— A large majority of the public (71%) say that most of what they know about HIV/AIDS comes from the media, while nine percent say it comes from their doctor or other health professional, six percent say friends and family, and three percent say the Internet. People ages 18-29 are less likely than their older counterparts to say they get their information about HIV/AIDS from the media (55%), and more likely to cite their doctor (13%), friends and family (9%), the Internet (7%), or
some other source (15%).

HIV Testing — Complete findings on HIV Testing, including by race/ethnicity, were released in June 2004. CL:ICK below:

http://www.kff.org/kaiserpolls/pomr061504pkg.cfm .

Latinos and HIV/AIDS CLICK below:

http://www.kff.org/hivaids/6007-index.cfm