Dec. 1 was World AIDS Day!
And international theme for 2015 is "Getting to zero; end Aids by 2030." The national theme for this year is "The time to act is now."
In 2012, the United Nations stated that it's possible to eradicate the disease by 2015in part, of course, by preventing new infections. However, within African-American communities, unfortunately, that has not been the case.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) reports that at least half of new cases of HIV in 2013 are attributed to African-Americans, which is eight time the rate of whites. African-Americansgay, bisexual and MSM ( men who have sex with men )account for new affections and, within this demographic group, males between 13-24 are the most affected.
A more grim report, "For Black Gay Men, HIV Is a Perfect Storm," was in the recent September issue of the Advocate.
"Gay men make up only 1.4 percent of the total Black population in the U.S., yet they account for an astounding 53 percent of new HIV infections in the Black community," according to the article. "And while new HIV infection rates have decreased among Black women and injecting drug users, infections continue to rise among Black gay and bisexual men. In addition, although gay men are 40 times more likely to get HIV than the general population, that figure rises sharplyto 72 times more likelyamong Black gay men."
But much of the focus was, and still is, on developing countries, and not enough in hotspots where Black populations can be found.
For example, with the South's propensity to avoid speaking about uncomfortable subjects unfortunately the South has evolved also into one of HIV/AIDS hotspots in the country. And so, too, are our prisons. HIV/AIDS among Black male inmates is five times the rate of the general population and transmitted primarily through male-to-male sex or tattooing.
Although African-Americans compose nearly 13 percent of the U.S. population, we tragically account for approximately 44 percent of new HIV infections in 2013. But this data doesn't reflect the wave of recent African diasporic immigrants of the last decade coming from the Caribbean Islands and the Motherland. This demographic group is overwhelmingly underreported and underservedfor fear of not only deportation but also of homophobic insults and assaults from their communities.
According to HIV/AIDS data in my state, there are 26,000-27,000 individuals currently living with HIV/AIDS throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, with urban areas the hardest hit. Although African-American and Latinos make up 6 percent and 10 percent, respectively, of the total Massachusetts population, shockingly, African-American and Latino populations are diagnosed with HIV infection at levels 10 and six times that of the white population, respectively. And, infections among MSM increased from 32 percent in 2004 to 46 percent in 2013.
The good news is that HIV infections among African-American women in Massachusetts has decreased for the first time in 2014, and it continues. And this decline in numbers has much to do with the indefatigable outreach by local organizations like AIDs Action Committee while operating each year on a diminishing state funded grant.
There are many persistent social and economic factors contributing to the high rates of the epidemic in the African-American communityracism, poverty, health-care disparity and violence, to name just a few. And while we know that the epidemic moves along the fault lines of race, class, gender and sexual orientation, and that HIV transmission is tied to specific high-risk behaviors that are not exclusive to any one sexual orientation, homophobia still continues to be one of the major barriers to ending the AIDS epidemic. And the biggest factor contributing to homophobia is still the Black church.
Although famous HIV-positive heterosexual African-Americanslike tennis great Arthur Ashe, news anchorman Max Robinson and rapper Eazy-Eall died of AIDS, and basketball giant Earvin "Magic" Johnson still lives with the virus, they highlight the fact that anyone can contract the virus, but many still see the epidemic as a "white gay disease." This suggests being gay or having sex with someone of the same gender puts you immediately at high risk.
But the truth is this: While more than 600,000 African-Americans are now living with HIV, and as many 30,000 are newly infected each year, there is still, within Black communities, at least one in five living with HIV who's unaware of his/her/their infectionand they are disproportionately heterosexuals.
While the number of cases across the globe continues to decline and possibly eradicate the disease ( as the UN predicts ), we, as African-Americans, cannot protect ourselves from this epidemic as long as we continue to think of HIV/AIDS as a "white gay disease." And the thought is so old-school, it serves no one.