Current Articles |
Press Archives
..............................................................................................................................................................................................
AIDS/HIV hits Blacks hardest
MICHIGAN CITIZEN
By Ramona Curtis
03.11.01
1 | 2
Blacks are 55 percent of AIDS cases nationwide
Acts of love have replaced murder as the number one killer of Blacks
as AIDS becomes the main cause of death for African Americans between
the ages of 25 - 44in the state of Michigan. And in southeastern
Michigan where African American make up 23 percent of the community,
they comprise 69 percent of all HIV cases.
According to the Center for Disease Control' (CDC), in 1999 more
African Americans nationwide were reported with AIDS than any other
racial ethnic group rep-resenting 47 percent of new AIDS cases.
It is estimated that there are currently 1 in 50 Black Men and 1
in 60 Black women infected with HIV.
The alarming numbers that reveal AIDS and its effect on Black America
were part of the discussion at an educational workshop held at the
Shrines of Black Madonna during the Black Church Week of Prayer
for the Healing of AIDS last week.
But nurse and AIDS educator Carol McCullough cautions that AIDS
and HIV, the infection that precedes the disease, are more personal
than statistics.
"1 want you to look around at the person sitting next to you,"
McCullough said. "These ,are the faces of HIV and AIDS. People
with HIV/ AIDS look just like you.There are no signs and there are
no symptoms."
MuCullough warned the packed audience of Shrine members adorned
in black and red that AIDS is no longer a white, gay man disease
as once thought.
"The faces of AIDS is changing, " she said. 'It used
to be White gay males, but now it's our black babies."
The U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher has called the situation
a "severe and ongoing crisis in communities of color,' and
with good reason.Although African Americans make up 12 percent of
the total population in the United States, they comprise 55 percent
of all AIDS cases
African Americans were living with AIDS at the end of 1998. By
June 2000, 154,695 Blacks had lost their lives as a result of AIDS.
But even more devastatingthan the sheer totals is the fact that
while white and Hispanic cases of AIDS am declining, incidents of
AIDS in the Black community have been steadily increasing.
1 | 2
..............................................................................................................................................................................................
Current Articles |
Press Archives
|
