The NYC HIV/AIDS picture does not look promising for Latinos

 

Latina women of childbearing age constitute a major segment of an invisible but continuously growing population of HIV-infected women of color, representing a heterogenous group whose disenfranchised status binds them to a common and tragic outcome. Eighty-one percent of AIDS cases reported among females in the U.S. during the year ending June 30, 2008 were among women of color. Women of color are sicker at the time of diagnosis, and die nearly 15 times more quickly than do white males with HIV/AIDS . As the leading cause of death among Latinas between ages 25 and 34, AIDS is projected to become the leading cause of death among minority women of childbearing age in the 21st century. The high proportion of AIDS prevalence among Latinos and African Americans in New York City has been increasing since 2007 when Latinos and African Americans made up 80.1% of the cumulative AIDS cases and increasing to 86% in 2008. This is due to shifting epidemiological trend of lower AIDS prevalence among white MSM and increasing HIV infection among African American and Latino women, and injecting drug users. Latinos account for 25% of NYC's population, but they represent 51% of adults with AIDS.