On the front lines : fighting HIV/AIDS in African-American communities

The U.S. HIV epidemic which began primarily among white gay men over a decade ago, has expanded to affect an increasing number of populations, with African-American communities among those most dramatically affected. Today, the disease poses a fundamental threat to the future health, well-being, and human potential of many African-American communities. African Americans are almost ten times more likely to be diagnosed with aids than whites, and there is evidence that this disparity is increasing. Race and ethnicity are not, themselves, risk factors, but correlate with other more fundamental determinants of health status such as poverty, access to quality health care, health care seeking behavior, illicit drug use, and living in communities with high prevalence of sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs) Acknowledging the disparity in hiv and std rates by race or ethnicity is one of the first steps in empowering affected communities to address this problem.