World AIDS Day—There’s Still Work to Be Done
December 01, 2008
December 1 is World AIDS Day. This year’s annual event has special significance given that it is the 20th World AIDS Day as well as the 25th anniversary of the discovery of the virus that causes AIDS. We have made tremendous progress over the last two decades in fighting HIV/AIDS – the disease has gone from a death sentence to essentially a chronic disease. Think about it – you don’t often hear anymore about people dying of AIDS. Rather, people with AIDS are dying of diseases like heart disease, stroke, and cancer. In a weird way, that represents progress.
Despite these successes, AIDS remains a disease that has significant impact on society. Over 1 million people are living with HIV, and there are over 56,000 new cases a year. By the time you finish reading this posting, someone will be infected with HIV.
This is particularly concerning because HIV and AIDS has affected African-Americans in the Unites States more than any other ethnic group. African-Americans are disproportionately affected by HIV, representing nearly 50% of all cases. Seventy percent of new cases among teenagers are black, as are 40% of the new cases among men and 60% of new cases among women.
Did you know that HIV infection is the second leading cause of death among blacks aged 22 – 44? I’m definitely concerned about AIDS in Africa – but we need to spend more resources combating HIV/AIDS in African-Americans right here…especially in places like New York City and Washington, DC.
So how do we lower the rate of new infections with HIV in this community? Among black men, the most common cause is men having sex with men (48%) followed by IV drug use (23%), and high risk heterosexual contact (22%). Among black women and teenager girls, by far the most common way to get HIV is high risk sexual contact (74%) and IV drug use (24%). Part of the reason these numbers are so high could be because over half of black people with HIV don’t know they are infected.
We need to do a better job of testing for HIV. CDC has put out new guidelines about routine testing. Specifics are available elsewhere, but if you have any of the risk factors, you need to be tested. Too often, people are diagnosed when they already have AIDS. There are fewer options for treatment at that point. Testing, nowadays, takes less than 5 minutes – that’s almost as quick as a blood sugar test for diabetes!
It almost goes without saying that improving and increasing safe sex practice is one of the best ways to lower the rate of HIV. People need to talk about risk factors to sexual partners, and protection needs to be used if there’s any question of risk. Despite the progress, there’s still significant stigma to HIV/AIDS. The more routine we make testing as well as the conversations around sex and protection, the less stigma will exist.
Let’s take a moment to celebrate the tremendous advances we have made, but then let’s take the time to redouble our efforts to fight HIV/AIDS in our communities.
Related Links:
Watch "World AIDS Day: Advances in Hope" video.
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