The Role Of Disease In The Hispanic 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).

An individual's risk for HIV or social determinants of health related to HIV is income, education, geographic region, poverty, gender orientation, early childhood experiences, and alcohol or substance abuse. The CDC

Outcome: Contraceptive use among Hispanic teens is relatively low and almost one-half of sexually active teens do not use a condom, putting them at risk for sexually transmitted infections in addition to pregnancy. (Child Trends,

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-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

HIV/AIDS is a disease with social, psychological and physiological consequences for those impacted by the illness. The impact of HIV and AIDS among African American women has been devastating. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC, 2010) reports that black women represent 29% of the estimated new HIV infections among all adult and adolescent African Americans and HIV/AIDS is the third leading cause of death for black women ages 25?44. Several

In the Hispanic/Latino culture health care is most commonly sought after when symptoms appear, and in may cases only when those symptoms cause the individual’s incapacitation. Working through discomfort is considered the norm, dwelling on discomfort or mild pain is seen as weakness and seeking medical attention when not ill, such as preventive care, is almost unheard of, unless it is required by one’s employer. Culturally engaging in premarital sex is frowned upon for girls, though not so much for males, abstinence may be the only birth control ever discussed at home, for fear of implying consent. This significantly increments the danger of teen age pregnancy, abortion is rejected, mostly for moral and religious reasons, thus the high rate of teen age birth.

Since I am a Hispanic/Latino I will be discussing the rates and risk factors of HIV specifically associated with the prevalence of HIV with Hispanics. First, the prevalence of Hispanics having HIV is quite larger in comparison to other races. In the United States of America, the estimated HIV infection rate amid Hispanics in 2010 was more than 3 times as high as that of the white race, being over 21% of all new HIV infections across the country. Two major socioeconomic factors that might have caused the prevalence of HIV amongst the Hispanic population are poverty and language barriers. The numbers can go on. In 2010, a whopping 87% of Hispanic men had new HIV infections among Hispanics in the United States. In regards to Hispanic homosexual men, 67% of them were estimated to have new HIV infections in 2010. Furthermore, the estimated rates for Hispanic women infected with new HIV infections was

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)

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

Department of Health & Human Services the group of people who are disproportionately affected by HIV are African Americans Gay and Bisexual Men. From 2005 to 2014, diagnoses increased 22% among all African Americans Gay and bisexual men and 87% among young African Americans and gay and bisexual men. By the end of 2013, an approximation of 493,543 gay and bisexual men were living with the HIV infection. Of those, 152,303 (31%) were African American, 210,299 (43%) were white, and 104,529 (21%) were Hispanic/Latino (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2016). Socioeconomic factors limited access to quality health care, lower income and educational levels, and higher rates of unemployment and incarceration may place some African American gay and bisexual men at higher risk for HIV than men of some other races/ethnicities.

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).

Peragallo, N., Deforge, B., O'Campo, P., Lee, S.M., Kim, Y.J., Cianelli, R., & Ferrer, L. (2005). A randomized clinical trial of an HIV risk reduction intervention among low-income Latina women. Nursing Research, 54,108-18.

Poverty, healthcare access, and risk taking behaviors are all among the answer. One in 4 African-American women lives in poverty, and people living in poverty also get lower-quality health care in general. Exchanging sex for drugs, money, or to meet other needs causes the increase HIV risk factors. For woman living in poverty with low quality health care gives the HIV infection to advance into AIDS more quickly. HIV is mostly spread to women through sexual contact. Untreated STDs that break the skin, like genital herpes, give HIV an access into the bloodstream. 23% of African American women were infected with HIV by injection drug use. Being under the influence of any substance can cause woman to have high risk behaviors such as unprotected sex and sharing of injection drug paraphernalia.

According to the CDC (2015), more than one million people are living with HIV in the United States, and more than 50,000 become newly infected each year. Unfortunately, one in five Americans living with HIV are unaware of their infection. I believe using the strategy which stresses the use of the 10 essential services of public health will help reduce the incidence of HIV in our