By: Brooklyn Middleton / Staff Writer
HIV/AIDS is a disease without borders. The collective understanding of HIV/AIDS and the demographics that the disease affects is shortsighted and flawed. It is essential to focus in more on the topic and look at the issue of race in regards to both prevention and healthcare for those infected.
The disparities in diagnosis between races are stark. The need to promote understanding about the impact of HIV/AIDS on the masses, minorities and women in particular, is integral to eradicating this disease.
Among the myriad of statistics supporting the link between race and higher rates of HIV/AIDS, there is one staggering fact that is particularly concerning. According to Care Resource, an organization that seeks to promote understanding of HIV/AIDS and prevention, African Americans, while only accounting for 20 percent of the total population of Miami Dade county, comprise 51.5 percent of AIDS cases. This is a disproportionately high statistic and there need be social analysis as to why African Americans are suffering so much more from this disease.
Furthermore, Care Resource reports that 77 percent of pediatric cases of AIDS were African-American children, the AIDS rate for African American women was double that of White women, and lastly, it is the leading cause of death for African American women between the ages of 25 to 44 and the third leading cause of death among African American men in the same age group.
One reason why African Americans are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS, as presented and explained by Avert, an international HIV/AIDS charity, points out that during the late 1980s American media painted HIV/AIDS as a white, gay or bisexual man’s disease. The marginalization of African American men and women in the fight to prevent HIV/AIDS directly influenced and created an epidemic in the black community.
It is essential that an intellectual, compassionate environment surrounding HIV/AIDS education is cultivated at the University and the Minority Association of Pre-Medical Students in coalition with The Student National Medical Association is attempting to do just that. Jonathan Batson, president of MAPS writes, “We are interested in community involvement and doing workshops, forums, and events related to issues that affect minorities. The month of March is dedicated to HIV & AIDS awareness and due to that, we are partnering with Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity to pass out condoms and information on how to get tested for HIV. At the same time we will be having a group named Care Resource coming to campus with their mobile HIV Testing Bus. On the 31st, we will be co-hosting a movie forum with Black Student Union viewing the documentary ‘Out of Control: AIDS in Black America.’ This will be in AHC3-110 and would be from 7pm to 9pm.”
It is commendable that these groups are attempting to cultivate a local environment of honest, inclusive HIV/AIDS prevention and research. With hope, the aspects of the movement that are, at the utmost, racially inclusive will transcend the University community and reach the Miami-Dade community at large.
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