The past � and he future
� of the AIDS crisis?
by Hugh B. Price
-Guest Columnist-
Under a sedate headline, "AIDS Services Slow in Reaching Latinos,"
the April 22 news report in the Washington Post on the growing
impact of AIDS among the immigrant Latino population of Washington, D.C.
told a grim, alarming story.
The Washington area�s increasing Latino immigrant population is being
hit hard by the AIDS virus, according to public health experts and AIDS
caseworkers. They add that their ability to reduce the sweep of the
scourge is being severely hampered by cultural and economic realities
that make it difficult for them to provide and for Latino immigrants to
seek out AIDS-care services.
At first glance, the numbers involved seem small. Washington�s Latino
population is just 8 percent; that of its neighbors, Virginia and
Maryland, just 4 percent each; and Latinos make up no more than 6
percent of those infecting with the H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS,
or carrying full-blown AIDS in any of the three jurisdictions.
Yet, the story reports that Latino AIDS activists say those figures
"vastly underestimate" the spread of the disease among immigrants and
the seriousness of the problem.
Instead, they say the evidence for sounding an alarm lies in the fact
that Washington-area AIDS clinics have experienced a small but rapid
increase in the number of immigrants coming for services who are already
near death.
"This tells us that they probably became infected 10 years ago, and
certainly, they infected other people," said the director of one clinic
in Northwest Washington, "Clearly, the numbers are going up, because
we�re full, but there�s still a perception that Latinos are at a low
risk."
That misperception is partly fed by cultural barriers�among them, the
stricture of the Catholic Church against the use of condoms, and a
deep-rooted bias against homosexuality in Latino culture, which is still
heavily drawn to attitudes and displays of machismo.
The latter makes it difficult for many men, particularly those who
are homosexual or bisexual, to speak truthfully about their sexual
activities with health workers, let alone their families, friends and
sexual partners.
Current data indicates that Latinos, 13 percent of the American
population, now account for 19 percent of new H.I.V. infections, and
that AIDS is the leading cause of death of Latino men ages 24 to 44.
Perhaps even more devastating in terms of stemming the disease�s
spread, the culture of machismo also makes it difficult for many
Latinas, especially new immigrants, to discuss sex with their male
partner, or even ask that he use a condom.
It will come as no surprise, then, that AIDS caseworkers and others
who track the scourge, say that the H.I.V. infection rate among Latinas
is rising noticeably�as it is among women everywhere.
But this increase is also fed by economic barriers.
Because they�re largely confined to low-wage service jobs that rarely
offer health insurance, many immigrants feel they can�t afford to seek
even basic health care. When a catastrophic illness like AIDS strikes,
they feel they have no choice but to endure it in the forlorn hope it
will just go away.
Does this grim tale sound familiar?
You bet it does.
Substitute for Latino immigrants: Black Americans, who, though 12
percent of the American population, make up 54 percent of new H.I.V.
inflections and 47 percent of AIDS cases.
Or, Black Africans throughout sub-Saharan Africa, where 25 million
people are now living with H.I.V., and where in the year 2000, more than
2.4 million died from AIDS.
But don�t stop there.
Go to India, Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Myanmar on
the Asian subcontinent, or the Ukraine and other former Soviet
republics; or the Balkans, or various sections of Latin America.
Or China: where government estimates say that as many as 850,000
people may have H.I.V. (by comparison, U.S. officials estimate that as
many as 950,000 in the U.S. have H.I.V.)�but where AIDS activists and
international health experts contend that 1.5 million people likely have
the virus, and that 200,000 have already died from AIDS.
In one sense, then, the Post report could be read as a stark
retelling of how this devastating scourge has been able to cut into
various demographic groups here in America and across the globe.
Beyond the boundaries of the highly-educated, resource-rich and
well-connected middle classes, those mired in poverty (or ensnared in
drug usage) for various reasons have few defenses against a disease for
which no cure has yet been found.
Our recognizing the similarities of how and why the disease is
rooting itself among another vulnerable population in America ought
to�has to�stir us to action. That, the Post reports, is
occurring among the governmental and private-sector health agencies in
the metropolitan Washington area.
No matter where the AIDS scourge has rooted itself, the response of
the healthy and those with resources has to be the same: More money and
more resources have to be devoted to put in place the treatment and
preventive programs that will beat back this disease.
It�s no exaggeration to say that the future of humanity depends on
it.
(Hugh Price is the president of the National Urban League.)
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