HIV/AIDs is knocking on the door of black america and too many of us have let him in. We have been so worried about AIDS in Africa that we let that joker tip toe through the foyer. I certainly hope you and yours are not directly affected by HIV/AIDS, but if you are a black american, the likelihood is unfortunately high. The AIDS epidemic among African-Americans in some parts of the U.S. is as widespread as in some countries in Africa, according to a report out July 29 and reported by CNN.

credit: Cpt. Obvious

The HIV Epidemic

Interestingly, the vast majority of black women with AIDS live in the South or Northeast. Our “go-to” for health-related statistics, the CDC, has “African-Americans” as the first topic on the HIV/AIDS website. Wow, what a reality check! Check out these CDC statistics from 2005.

What is going on with my people? How is this happening? AIDS researchers do not have strong evidence to support an explanation. What we do know is that one in every two people living with HIV is black! Peter Jennings reported in 2006 that black women are 23 times more likely to be diagnosed with AIDS than white women. In 2001, black women were 14 times more likely to die of AIDS than white women (We may be at 15 to 16 times in 2008).

Excuse my French, but what the hell?

Share with your friends and associates that AIDS remains the leading cause of death among black women between ages 25 and 34. It’s the second-leading cause of death in black men 35-44. This is all very alarming. What’s even more alarming is that some practitioners in the health care sector who don’t understand this epidemic are clueless.

Several years ago, I went to my primary care physician whose practice is affiliated with Duke University Medical Center. The physician is Asian and I had seen her once before for an internal medicine checkup. I like to get all my tests done — cholesterol, diabetes, thyroid, etc. — when I see an internist annually. I, matter-of-factly, asked her for an HIV test. She responded that she would not give me one because I do not fit the socioeconomic status of someone with HIV.

Yes, you read this correctly.

She was dead serious. She even indicated that my insurance would not pay for it because of that reason. I wanted to take her notepad and bop her over the head to knock some sense into her. Instead, I educated her on the aforementioned statistics. I took the test (insurance covered 100%) and am happy that I was persistent at a very vulnerable time. However, to this day I can not believe the ignorance related to black women and HIV. Remember when Dick Cheney and John Edwards were asked the question about the epidemic of AIDS among black women at a vice-presidential debate in 2004 and they looked like 3 year olds would look if asked to discuss the origin of monkeys. How insignificant and ignored did black women feel at that moment?

My question is, what contributes to black women contracting HIV/AIDS at such an increased rate? Is it poverty, unprotected sex, lack of education about HIV/AIDS, low-quality health care, drugs, mulitple sexual partners, lack of morals, incarceration of black men, mate “on the down low”, or failure to use condoms? Why are WE getting kicked by the Black Ninja so hard? Haven’t black americans suffered enough? Here are a couple of things we need to contemplate:

Prevention is the solution for infection.

credit: Mayu ;P

AIDS Awareness Ribbon

We need to open up about the disease and talk to family and friends about this epidemic. We are too conservative when it comes to this disease. Yes, people are having premarital sex, sex outside of marriages and bisexual relations. Stop the stigma so people can get the support they need. We must have culturally specific prevention programs that are pervasive in our communities, churches, and health clinics. Tell our young boys to wear that raincoat…everytime!

An infrastructure for systematic testing should be implemented.

As we know, a disproportionate number of black men are in prison. Prisons have AIDS infection rates 5 times higher than the general population. Many men go to prison HIV negative, but come out HIV positive (the reason why is another lengthy discussion). A majority of these released prisoners do not know their HIV status. When these men are released from prison, they are welcomed by the women who waited for them and subsequently infect them unknowingly. There needs to be a comprehensive national testing and treatment for released inmates.

I can go on and on about remedies for what ails us as we confront this enormous challenge. Help me out, what can we do to save our sisters and brothers?