HIV takes tough toll on Black Americans

this is another of the 18 threads that were deleted on Sat night

i found some and reposted them in
Al-CIAda activities around the World
http://www.davidicke.com/forum/showthread.php?t=157729


http://edition.presstv.ir/TextOnly/detail.aspx?id=164200


HIV takes tough toll on Black Americans

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 09:07:31 GMT

In the United States, the dreaded HIV virus is taking a harsh toll on the country's African-American community due to a variety of disparities.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, although Blacks make up only 14 percent of the US population, they account for more than 50 percent of all diagnosed HIV cases in the country, Press TV correspondent said on Monday.

Federal officials also say that African-American men are eight times more likely to contract the AIDS causing virus than their white counterparts, and twice as likely as Hispanic men.

Black women, meanwhile, are 19 times as likely as white women to become HIV positive and four times as likely as Hispanic women.

The reasons for these disparities are complex, the correspondent further explained.

The prevalence of the HIV virus and other sexually-transmitted diseases are higher in the Black community, in general, most likely due in part to a lack of testing, a lack of adequate education.

Many experts agree disparities in access to health care and poverty also contribute to the increased risk of HIV in the African-American community.

“So many black people do not have health insurance. So even if they are infected and they know it, we're going to go far cheaper,” Ron Simmons president of Us Helping Us, a HIV clinic in northwest Washington, told Press TV.

Following the recent revelation, Congressman Danny Davis on Monday, called for the prevention and treatment of sexually-transmitted diseases, and promotion of education, prevention, testing, and treatment among the Black community.