HIV/AIDS Among Black and Hispanic Men

The AIDS epidemic in America is quickly becoming concentrated among black and Hispanic poor men who have sex with men. Despite the years of progress with preventing and treating HIV among the middle class, the number of new infections per year remains fixed at 50,000, and it is found more and more in these men that make up a very small percent of the population. 

In New York City, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the city’s health department, 45% of new infections are found in black and Hispanic men, and nationally it is 25%. Additionally, when only men under 25 infected through gay sex are counted, nationally, 80% of them are black or Hispanic. Critics say that not much is being done to save and help this group, and nothing is being done with great urgency. Federal and state officials agreed, saying that it took years to shift prevention messages away from only men that frequent gay bars, many of whom are white and middle class, as well as heterosexual teens, who are already at a relatively low risk. These are the targets that were chosen 30 years ago for such messages, and the field needed to be broadened and updated. Part of the problem is that the funding for health agencies has been minimal, and there has not been much political pressure to concentrate on young gay blacks and Hispanics. 

Dr. Jonathan Mermin, the director of HIV prevention at the C.D.C. says that they are working on reaching those men, and his agency has created a Testing Makes Us Stronger campaign, which can be viewed using this link, http://hivtest.cdc.gov/stronger/, and has granted millions of dollars to local health departments and community groups for testing. Despite this, he was unable to name a city or state with a proven success in lowering the infection rates in young gay minority men. A part of this is that they need more resources in order to bring it to fruition. 

In addition, gay black youths are difficult to reach. Few of them have come out to their families, many live in areas where gays are stigmatized and cannot afford to move, and few attend schools that have gay pride clubs or gay guidance counselors or other such avenues for education on the subject. According to a big C.D.C.-led study, a male-male sex act is eight times more likely to end in an HIV infection for young black Americans as it is for their white peers. This appears to be true, despite the fact that black youths, on average, took fewer risks than white peers; they had fewer partners, engaged in fewer acts of sex while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and used condoms more frequently. 

There are, however, other risk factors that play a part. For example, lacking health insurance generally means that they will be less likely to have seen doctors on a regular basis, and more likely to have syphilis, which creates a path for HIV. Another crucial factor is that more of their partners are older black men, who are more likely to have untreated HIV than older white men. Among the poor, untreated or inadequately treated HIV is the norm, not the exception, according to Perry N. Halkitis, professor of psychology and public health at NYU. 

According to C.D.C., 79% of HIV-infected black men who have sex with men and 74% of Hispanic men who have sex with men, are not “virally suppressed,” which means they can transmit the infection, either because they are not yet on antiretroviral drugs or they are not taking them daily. Experts say missed doses allow the virus to rebound, sometimes in drug-resistant strands. In addition, about 20% of the 1.1 million people living with HIV in the U.S. are undiagnosed, which means they are also not accessing the necessary care and treatment to stay healthy. 

The scattered programs that offer housing, legal, medical help and other services are not enough to bring about the desired change in the rate of HIV infections, because the national response is hesitant. Not many black political or religious leaders regularly speak about this problem, with just a few exceptions, and although programs to help have been proposed and tested, few have been widely adopted.

Moving forward, finding the means to educate this group of men which is so highly affected, and providing resources and guidance for help, is absolutely necessary. The percentage of gay black and Hispanic men with HIV is disproportionately large in light of the percentage of the U.S. population that they make up. This needs to be addressed with more urgency and consistency, and the groups that are being targeted for prevention messages needs to be broadened, so that minorities get the same attention surrounding this issue that white men do.

Works Cited:

1. "HIV/AIDS Care Continuum." HIV/AIDS Care Continuum. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2014. <http://aids.gov/federal-resources/policies/care-continuum/>.

2. "HIV/AIDS Four Hour Update for the Healthcare Professional." AID/HIV 4 Hour Nursing Continuing Education Course Provided Free by CEUFast. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2014. <http://www.ceufast.com/course/aids-hiv-4hr/>.

3. "Latinos and HIV/AIDS." Kaiser Family Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2014. <http://kff.org/hivaids/fact-sheet/latinos-and-hivaids/>.

4. Mcneil, Donald G. "Poor Black and Hispanic Men Are the Face of H.I.V." The New York Times. The New York Times, 04 Dec. 2013. Web. 20 Oct. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/05/us/poor-black-and-hispanic-men-are-face-of-hiv.html?pagewanted=1>.