Were you aware that 64% of new AIDS cases are African American women?

These women carry the increased burden of race, sex and class in our society. Very little is being said of this in the media.

to that claim?

I'm interested......

It's a question of what can we do to make this stop.

AA women make up roughly 8% of the general population, but account for 64% of newly diagnosed HIV/AIDS cases.

But to answer your original question, yes, I was aware. It's part of my job to know this.

There's also a huge co-ifection rate with Hepatitis C that no one seems to be "talking" (ie, creating funding streams) about.

http://www.balmingilead.org/aidsfacts/

# Of the estimated 40,000 new HIV infections each year, more than 50 percent occur among African Americans.

# In 1998, African American women constituted 64 percent of new female AIDS cases, African American men accounted for 50 percent of new AIDS cases among men.

# AIDS is the number one cause of death for Black adults aged 25 to 44, before heart disease, cancer and homicide.

# One in 50 Black men is HIV-positive. One in 160 Black women is HIV-positive.

# Black senior citizens represent more than 50 percent of HIV cases among persons over age 55.

# Intravenous drug use is fueling the epidemic in Black communities. It accounts for 43 percent of infections among Black women and 38 percent among Black men. Many women contact HIV infection through sex with an injection drug user.

# In 1998, men of color who have sex with men represented 52 percent of total AIDS cases. By comparison, in 1989 men of color who have sex with men represented 31 percent of total AIDS cases.

# Although only 15 percent of the adolescent population in the United stated is Black, over 60 percent of AIDS cases reported in 1999 among 13-19 year olds were among Blacks.

# Black children represent almost two-thirds (62 percent) of all reported pediatric AIDS cases.

# AIDS is a global problem among Black people. The World Health Organization reveals that the disease is the number one leading cause of death in Africa. The United Nations estimated that two million Africans died of AIDS in 1998, accounting for 80 percent of the worldwide total of AIDS deaths. Nine out of ten children with HIV are in sub Saharan Africa. By the end of the year 2000, a cumulative total of 13 million children - the majority in Africa will have lost one of both parents to AIDS.

The CDC estimates fewer than 225,000 HIV cases in the entire black population (~40.2 million people).

For black men to have an HIV prevalence of one in fifty, there would have to be about 380,000 cases of HIV among black men alone.


So yeah, that "one in fifty" claim is probably false.

who they were married to. (men running around and women did not know).

If not inference, but no doubt such articles exist.


But most people already know it is not some sort of exclusive "gay disease", "punishment", or any other inference. How it spreads is proof anybody, under the qualifying conditions, can get it. Unprotected sex happens to be such a condition and men can get it from women too (typically uncircumcised men as it's easier for the friction to cause tears sufficiently large for the virus to permeate.)

So he can't see the links :)

:hi:

But everyone loves to focus on that one.

And after working in this field for over 5 years, I can vouch for the information IndianaJones is sharing, even without a link.

:grr:

All the statistics are out there - rate of teen pregancny up, AIDs going up, number of abortions going up and why?

Because we can't teach sex education to our children. That's 7 years of our kids being told "Wait until marriage" and thinking that 2 horny kids are gonna remember that message when they're, um, like horny.

And I blame it on the lack of funding in our educational system. I lived 5 years in an area that was predominantly minority and what I saw where kids that were not giving a strong future. The school system was barely making ends meet to give these kids even a borderline education that could help make them potentially successful in society (btw, growing up in Rural America - same educational problem).

If we could just take a TENTH of what is spent on this war and funnel it into education, we could give our children the opportunity to live the American dream including providing health care for all of them

:grr:

At least that's what the links being posted seem to say.

And if that's right, then yes, I knew. It's reaching horrific proportions among Black urban men, too.

But of course it's not news in the mainstream media :sarcasm: doesn't fit the news "model"...

... while rising slightly among whites that doesn't fit the mainstream media's news model.

They love to hype to bad news for blacks, and they tend to ignore good news -- or even try to spin it into more bad news (yes, they've made progress, but remember: blacks still aren't doing as well as us, so there!)


Seriously. That's what the MSM's take-home message usually boils down to.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/17/AR2005111701565.html

all of a sudden you just decided to wake up to this wonderful statistics,

talk about distortion. Since 2003 and you decided to bring up the record.


Good job!


:applause: :applause: :applause:

Your post makes no sense whatsoever.

Not does it contribute to helping anyone, anywhere, at any time.

other than disruption?

I remember when I was in my late teens I had an acquaintance who was dying of AIDS. She was in her twenties with two kids. Her boyfriend was an IV drug user. She was very concerned about finding someone to take care of her kids. I was too young to help and I felt helpless.

I remember by 1990 I was already hearing statistics that 3/4ths of new infections were African-American women.

And black women account for only about one third of that.

Not what I'd call "overwhelming".

not overwhelming?

I'm tired of people misusing the word "epidemic" to describe a disease prevalence that doesn't amount to an epidemic. That's crying wolf.

HIV infections have been declining among blacks about 5% per year during this decade. That appears to be linked to a 9% per year decline in infections due to contaminated needles: IV drug use -- not sexual intercourse -- was the main vector for HIV transmission among black heterosexuals. Same as for white heterosexuals.

-AIDS is the number one cause of death for Black adults aged 25 to 44, before heart disease, cancer and homicide.

-AIDS is the number one cause of death for Black adults aged 25 to 44, before heart disease, cancer and homicide.

Cite, please.


BTW, the greatest homicide risk for blacks is found in young men, teens to early twenties. Also, you wouldn't expect a lot of people 25-44 to be dying of heart disease or cancer in any case, since these are largely diseases of advanced age. As it happens, mortality rates are generally lowest for young adults: given the fairly low prevalence of HIV infection, if AIDS were a leading cause of death, this would only reflect how few deaths occur within this age group.

celebrities recruited to call attention, are all blowing this out of proportion. What a bunch of idiots.

By all means deal with it -- and the information campaign on radio is a good idea -- but please keep it in perspective. HIV is not "rampant" among African-Americans, and to portray it as such is just dishonest stigma-mongering.

:(

You misread the study, Indiana Jones.

-Of the estimated 40,000 new HIV infections each year, more than 50 percent occur among African Americans.

No HIV is good. But a yearly HIV infection rate of 0.0133% is hardly an overwhelming crisis for the country as a whole.

And a yearly HIV infection rate of 0.076% percent isn't an overwhelming crisis for blacks. Especially considering that this rate is declining.


We should deal with HIV rationally, and that requires keeping the problem in perspective.

to raise awareness of this issue, and not left to people like you.

It's not my fault that you misread a study and got all hysterical.

dismissing it and throwing it under a rug is stupid.

... for several years now.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2747277&mesg_id=2751872


I know that people tend to be resistant to hearing anything good about black America, so I expect I'll have to repeat myself a few more times before it sinks in.

to negatively present the African American community as being ultimately responsible for the majority of new transmission rates of HIV.

What I do see, is most of us trying to get you to pull your head out the sand and recognize that even the CDC, which you previously referenced as a source, realizes that there is a disproportionate representation among African American women. They have fucking Powerpoints whenever you care to did a bit deeper.

There has been a paradigm shift in whom this virus has infected. But what do I know? I only attend conferences throughout the country and lead workshops about this issue facing communities of color.

America's supply of new AIDS patients is insignificant compared to the problems of sub-saharan Africa.

read the post "African American", "our society".

:hi:

50% are black? thats such a small number compared to the total population.

WTF?

Rian Malan wrote an interesting article about it.


Also, this was in Foreign Dispatches:




More at http://foreigndispatches.typepad.com/dispatches/2006/04/aids_in_africa_.html