“When we look at HIV/AIDS by race and ethnicity, we see that African Americans have more illness (even though blacks account for about 13% of the U.S. population, they account for about half (49%) of the people who get HIV and AIDS; shorter survival times (Blacks with AIDS often don’t live as long as people of other races and ethnic groups with AIDS); and more deaths (for African Americans and other blacks, HIV/AIDS is a leading cause of death.”
“HIV/AIDS affects black children the most. In 2005, 104 (63%) of the 166 children under the age of 13 diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in 33 states were black.”
“According to information from 33 states, during 2005, among men, 41% of men living with HIV/AIDS were black; among women, 64% of women living with HIV/AIDS were black.”
“Of all black women living with HIV/AIDS, the primary transmission category was high-risk heterosexual contact, followed by injection drug use.”
“Of the estimated 141 infants perinatally infected with HIV, 91 (65%) were Black (CDC, HIV/AIDS Reporting System, unpublished data, December 2006).”
“Of the estimated 18,849 people under the age of 25 whose diagnosis of HIV/AIDS was made during 2001–2004 in the 33 states with HIV reporting, 11,554 (61%) were Black.”
“Since the beginning of the epidemic, blacks have accounted for 397,548 (42%) of the estimated 952,629 AIDS cases diagnosed in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.”
For More Information see: blackaidsday.org
The Youth of Today: HIV/AIDS in DC
HIV infection among District youth is mostly the result of unprotected sexual behavior, as few adolescents in DC engage in injection drug use. There is an estimated 100,000 youth in the District ages 13 to 24. Nearly 1,000 District youth have been reported to have AIDS since 1984, almost a quarter from 2001-2005 alone. Since 1984, youth under age 25 have represented 5 to 6 percent of all the reported DC AIDS cases. Nearly 10 percent of the 4.027 HIV cases reported in the District from 2001-2005 were represented by residents ages 13 to 24. Since 2001, young men who have sex with men ages 13 to 24, particularly among young men of color, experienced a 900 percent increase of reported HIV infection and young heterosexual women of color by more than a third when compared to the previous five-year period.
DC Department of Health, HIV/AIDS Administration
Adults and HIV/AIDS in DC The disproportionate impact of HIV/AIDS in The District is shocking. Although blacks only comprise 57% of The District population, they accounted for 81% of all new reports of of HIV cases and all living AIDS cases. In the District, from 2001-2006, over 90% of all new reports of HIV cases among adult and adolescent females were among blacks. Blacks and Hispanics also comprised 85% of newly reported HIV cases among young adults 13-19 years of age.
DC Department of Health, HIV/AIDS Administration
What can YOU do to help prevent the spread of this disease that is taking too many lives from the black community??
Talk about it! Talk with your friends, boyfriends, at church, at school anywhere you can. . . Talk about it!
Use Condoms! Use protection EVERY time!
Get TESTED and get TESTED often!
Here are just a few faces that give of their time in the fight to against HIV/AIDS!
