How Does Hiv And Aids Affect The Latino Community

HIV has affected people all across the world. HIV comes with physical and mental symptoms. The body symptoms include skin flaking off, being dry, skin peeling off (Saliba 23) , fingernails falling off (32), and weight loss (14). Mentally it is hard to sleep, people become weak, and are tired all the time (23). People all across the world are infected with this disease, and the problem with this is the fact that most do not even know they have it. The most people who are infected each year are African Americans, gays, or bisexuals. 10,315 African Americans were infected in 2015. The U.S.A. has estimated about 1.1 million are infected with the disease. Equally to about 12,333 deaths happened in 2014 from AIDS related diseases, and 6,721 deaths from AIDS directly. Although there are a large amount of people getting infected, on the other hand eighteen percent of the population with HIV is declining since 2008-2014 (“U.S. Statistics”). In the world about 33.2 million people worldwide have HIV, with 22.5 million people in sub Saharan Africa are living with this condition, one out of nine people who live in South America have HIV or AIDS (Saliba 8).

Moreover, the HIV epidemic in this region is almost double than compared to any other regions in the nation. The University of North Carolina has found a number of factors that demonstrate a relatively accurate assessment of increasing number of HIV cases in North Carolina and other parts of the southern region. Migrants can be a marginalized population with significant barriers to accessing preventive services. This process of migration may put Latinos at higher risk for HIV. Through the course of migration many Latinos and Hispanics experiences risky behaviors in multiple sexual partners and an increase in illicit drug use. According to Micah and William, Mexican migrants may be more likely to engage in riskier behaviors following the

African American young men are infected with HIV at an alarmingly high rate in comparison to other races. The negative stigmas that is attached to having HIV in the black community, especially for men can be extremely detrimental and harmful to their overall health. One stigma that was attached to having HIV was death, death was at one time believed to be imminent, and now HIV is about restructuring their lives to face the future (Buseh, Kelber, Stevens & Park, 2008, p.409), yet they still battle other stigmas surrounded around HIV.

​African-Americans are the ethnic group most affected by HIV/AIDS. Ironically african-americans represent 14% of the population of the United States , but represent 44% across the gender line. African-american men represent 70% of HIV infections among the ethnic group, however african-american women are also highly at risk of HIV infection. Indeed they have a rate of infection that is 15 times greater than the rate for caucasion women (HIV among African-Americans, 2012). Most African-american women (85%) are infected with HIV through heterosexual sex, often with partners, who claim to be

The Hispanic community in the largest minority in the USA and the fastest growing, it is also one with a high incidence of preventable diseases such as Diabetes, periodontitis, colorectal cancer and HIV. Obesity and teen age pregnancy are significantly more prevalent in Hispanic/Latino population as well. Rate of vaccination is also below that of the majority of the population. Addressing their health care makes good public health and economic sense.

In an approach to health promotion and the prevention of diseases that affect the Hispanic community disproportionately we can look at prevention in 3 levels, primary, secondary and tertiary. Primary prevention would be preventing a disease or injury before it occurs. This could be done with the use of education and legislation on safety and health practices. Secondary prevention would be reducing the impact of the disease or injury that has occurred. This could be accomplished by early detection and health screenings. Lastly the tertiary prevention would be used to alleviate the impact of ongoing illness or an injury that has lasting effects. This would be accomplished by helping to manage chronic and complex diseases/conditions and permanent disabilities. This would help improve quality of life and life expectancy. One condition, while not a leading cause of death, but on the rise in the Hispanic community is the high incidence of HIV. The incidence rate is 3 time higher for Hispanics than white Americans. In 2013 the HIV rate in Hispanics counted as 23% of all new infections. Hispanic males were 85% of these new infections. ("CDC," 2015)

Many people are unaware of their health status further increasing transmission of disease in young adult African American(AA) women age 18-24. Human Immunodeficiency Viruses (HIV) infects and also destroy blood cells (i.e. lymphocytes) that the body need to fight off infection (Mays 2011). African American women HIV positive, age 18-24 the magnitude of issue of the health disparity in this particular population will be addressed along with the many factors of social and health determinants. The health concern is towards the increase of transmission among young AA mothers and their children who are the health outcomes in many ways than one. The many social and health determinants that affect the women today are on going cycles that have yet to be broken. African American women make 64% of new infection cases for HIV. African american obtain a vulnerability unlike other minorities. The health population’s culture and stigma has played an important role in the community. The concern for AA women is the increase of new cases and most importantly the spread of the disease to these women’s children. The mortality rate of AA women with HIV is 47.1% as of 2012. (Siddiqi 2015)

Poverty, lower education, language barriers and access to health care are all factors that contribute to this population being at a high risk of contracting the disease and to be infected and not be aware of it. Hispanics are among the lower tested for HIV in the United States and this is because there is a misconception that when the go see their doctor, they are automatically tested for it. The language barrier affects their ability to speak clearly with their providers and to receive education about the disease and how to prevent it. Access to health care is another huge factor, because most Hispanics live in poverty they are not insured and therefore do not have access to decent health care, which could provide them with the education that they need. Those who are a little more educated and find a clinic they could go to do not go because of the stigma associated with it, in some areas HIV clinics have names such as “Clinical Immunology” and “AIDS team” these are not places that Hispanics want to be seen walking into for fear of being judged by their family and friends (Moran, 2007).

Such differences place Latino women at a disadvantage as compared to both groups in terms of current prevention and treatment initiatives. The Latino experience of HIV/AIDS is rooted not only in gender, but also in the socioeconomic, sociocultural, and political contexts of the women’s lives. The purpose of this study is to explore Latino women’s narratives of living with HIV/AIDS. The central questions guiding this study were: (a) what issues contribute to Latino women becoming infected with HIV? (b) What factors, or confluence of factors, play a role in Latino women living with HIV/AIDS? (c) What does being infected with HIV/AIDS mean to Latino women? and (d) How do Latino women make sense of being infected with HIV/AIDS within the broader context of their

Being that Blacks/African AMericans make up only 12 percent of the UNited States population, they account for about 44 percent of new HIV infections annually. It is estimated that at least 280,000 Black/African American men and women have died since the the epidemic began. Another race/ethnic group also disportionately affected by HIV/AIDS are Hispanics/Latinos. They make up about 15 percent of the United States population and account for 21 percent of new annual HIV infections. In total both minority groups makes up about 65 percent of HIV/AIDS cases. The likelihood of an African American or Latino male or female contracting the viruses are twice that of their white counterparts (CDC).

Various studies show evidence that link the relationship between social determinants of health and the risk for HIV. Interrelated social determinants of health can create a context of vulnerability and risk for HIV. It is very important to be able to recognize the interrelation components of HIV risk in order determine the HIV prevention response that is the most effective. For instance, research shows that HIV rates are significantly higher in Black men who have sex with men (MSM) than for MSM of other races. These rates, which are very disproportionate, are not attributable to a higher frequency of sexual risk behaviors. To appropriately address risk for MSM of different races, it is imperative to understand the process of disease transmission among these populations, in other words, the social determinants of health that are involved, such as access to healthcare (CHLA, 2012).

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are over fifty thousand new HIV infections reported in this country each year.1 Alameda County has the fourth highest number of cumulative AIDS cases among California counties, while Oakland in particular has the highest percentage of diagnosed AIDS cases among women of any major metropolitan area in the Western United States.2 Typical of the rest of the country, the leading mode of transmission is through gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men who accounted for 64.1% of all HIV/AIDS cases (n=6578) diagnosed in the Oakland Transitional Grant Area (TGA) in 2010.2 With roughly 1 in 173 Oakland residents living with HIV, 41.8% of them African American, this epidemic is devastating this community.2 Alameda County is in the forefront of the battle against HIV among young gay men of color. The AIDS epidemic disproportionately affects its African American community, who despite making up just 12.2 percent of the population, account for roughly 40 percent of all cases of persons living with HIV or AIDS in the county.2,3 Irrespective of this racial disparity, the target population for this project is all HIV-negative Alameda residents at high risk for transmission.

The problem or focus of this study is to explore themes related with a primary barrier to sexual communication, and effective HIV prevention. Because of the high percentage of individuals who are unaware of their HIV status and the HIV infection rates, prevention strategies have been geared toward routine HIV testing for HIV positive individuals (Bird, & Viosin, 2013). It is believed that an HIV positive status is less stigmatized as a result of these procedures (Bird, & Viosin, 2013). Even with HIV status being less stigmatized, negative views still exist. Infected individuals are facing discrimination from friends, family, co-workers, and strangers (Bird, & Viosin, 2013).

In this research paper, the researchers wanted to evaulate the treatments of HIV and how it improved life expectancy between race and gender. The researchers used US NHSS data from 2008 to 2011 to estimate life expectancy of people diagnosed with HIV. They also seperated the data by gender and race to compare groups of life expectancy. Results show that the average life expectancy increased with time by 13.5% from 2008 to 2011. Males had a higher life expectancy than females, with males having an average of 3.64 years and females averaging at 2.64. Males engaged in homosexual contact had longer life expectancy than any other transmission categories (Drug use and heterosexual contact). Hispanics had a higher life expectancy compared to the other

The sense of belonging to a community is highly important for Latino and African-American. Latino cultural attitudes toward homosexual identity are often rejecting and scornful