Too often while speaking to some of my peers I am still being made aware of the irresponsibility of many who are still willing to risk their lives for a moment of passion. Surprisingly, in this day and age when we are faced with safe sex ads while just doing something as simple as taking a train ride to work and during a time when we are offered more education than ever on the possible effects of not "wrapping it up" people are still proving to be closed to the realities that sadly we are now very much standing toe to toe with.
It makes me wonder why some of us still choose to turn our backs on the truth and think that we are immune to this dreadful dis-ease which haunts many of us as we reminisce on the lives that once brought joy and laughter to our own but are now a silent memory forever etched in our existence. Has our society become so highly driven by sex that we are willing to put our lives on the line by carelessly hooking up with someone because "they look clean and healthy"?
DID YOU KNOW?- An estimated one million people are living with HIV in the United States alone and more than half a million have died after developing AIDS.
According to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, 87 percent of all people living with HIV/AIDS in Brooklyn in 2008 were persons of color, with 7 percent of the nation’s children under 13 with HIV/AIDS also living in Brooklyn.
“The HIV epidemic is raging. Preliminary results show New York City experienced nearly 5,000 new infections in 2008 alone, almost half of which were in the black community,” Dr. Monica Sweeney, Assistant Commissioner at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said.
In addition, in 2008, Brooklyn was home to nearly 30% of people living with HIV/AIDS in New York City who died.
Brooklyn’s consistent high number of individuals who are diagnosed with AIDS after being diagnosed with HIV, is only a reason for communities to gather and fight the disease.
“The Brooklyn HIV/AIDS Strategic Plan was forged over the last year through the tireless efforts of an unprecedented alliance of direct service providers, consumers, researchers and local government,” Gretchen Maneval, director of the Center for the Study of Brooklyn at Brooklyn College said. “It provides a roadmap for the caravan of consumers, community activists, and care providers who have been fighting this disease for over two decades so that they may advance their cause in a unified direction with regards to programming, policy, funding, research and communications in Brooklyn.”
Blacks/African Americans accounted for 52% of new HIV diagnoses and 48% of AIDS diagnoses in 2008. Of the total number of people living with HIV in 2007 in the 37 U.S. states and 5 dependent areas, 46% were black/African American; 32% white; 20% Hispanic/Latino; 0.8% multiple races; 0.6% Asian; 0.4% American Indian/Alaska Native; and 0.04% Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander.
Among men diagnosed with AIDS in 2008, 52% of black/African American men, 63% of Hispanic/Latino men and 78% of white men became infected with HIV through male-to-male sexual contact. Among women diagnosed with AIDS in 2008, 77% of black/African American women, 75% of Hispanic/Latino women and 65% of white women became infected through heterosexual contact.
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| *Area of Residence | Living with a diagnosis of HIV infection | Living with an AIDS diagnosis | AIDS diagnoses in 2008 per 100,000 population |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 10,093 | 4,004 | 8.7 |
| Alaska | 618 | 348 | 3.2 |
| Arizona | 11,581 | 4,996 | 9.1 |
| Arkansas | 4,892 | 2,358 | 5.3 |
| California | - | 67,208 | 13.2 |
| Colorado | 10,428 | 4,238 | 7.5 |
| Connecticut | 11,107 | 7,407 | 10.1 |
| Delaware | - | 1,874 | 16.8 |
| District of Columbia | - | 9,030 | 93.3 |
| Florida | 91,529 | 48,492 | 26.0 |
| Georgia | 31,806 | 19,310 | 19.7 |
| Hawaii | - | 1,320 | 3.0 |
| Idaho | 720 | 320 | 2.1 |
| Illinois | - | 17,070 | 10.1 |
| Indiana | 8,147 | 3,972 | 6.5 |
| Iowa | 1,526 | 910 | 2.5 |
| Kansas | 2,572 | 1,394 | 3.9 |
| Kentucky | 4,396 | 2,553 | 6.9 |
| Louisiana | 15,961 | 8,349 | 24.0 |
| Maine | - | 548 | 2.7 |
| Maryland | - | 16,510 | 27.6 |
| Massachusetts | - | 9,455 | 5.8 |
| Michigan | 13,295 | 7,123 | 7.0 |
| Minnesota | 5,910 | 2,530 | 4.0 |
| Mississippi | 7,955 | 3,357 | 12.6 |
| Missouri | 11,058 | 5,756 | 8.5 |
| Montana | - | 203 | 3.0 |
| Nebraska | 1,501 | 785 | 4.3 |
| Nevada | 6,665 | 3,022 | 12.4 |
| New Hampshire | 1,118 | 606 | 2.1 |
| New Jersey | 34,766 | 18,943 | 17.6 |
| New Mexico | 2,222 | 1,306 | 5.1 |
| New York | 126,849 | 74,544 | 23.5 |
| North Carolina | 22,896 | 9,425 | 12.5 |
| North Dakota | 160 | 74 | 2.4 |
| Ohio | 15,471 | 7,410 | 5.8 |
| Oklahoma | 4,628 | 2,373 | 4.7 |
| Oregon | - | 2,916 | 5.6 |
| Pennsylvania | - | 18,523 | 11.3 |
| Rhode Island | - | 1,390 | 7.4 |
| South Carolina | 13,905 | 7,181 | 15.5 |
| South Dakota | 378 | 147 | 1.4 |
| Tennessee | 14,222 | 6,743 | 9.6 |
| Texas | 60,825 | 33,238 | 12.0 |
| Utah | 2,169 | 1,198 | 2.7 |
| Vermont | - | 251 | 1.8 |
| Virginia | 19,951 | 9,223 | 8.2 |
| Washington | - | 5,578 | 6.2 |
| West Virginia | 1,435 | 799 | 4.5 |
| Wisconsin | 4,773 | 2,271 | 3.0 |
| Wyoming | 193 | 104 | 2.9 |
| Subtotal | 577,452 | 458,686 | 12.2 |
C2EA (Campaign To End AIDS) is an organization made up of those living with AIDS/HIV, their friends, family, advocates and loved ones from across the United States and all around the world whose main purpose is to educate and represent this epidemic on community, region and state levels.
"C2EA members develop strategies through advocacy networks that demand our leaders exert the political will to stop the HIV & AIDS epidemic in this country and abroad – once and for all. In rural and urban areas, C2EA helps to develop and support the meaningful participation and leadership of people living with HIV & AIDS to mobilize and ensure the best treatment and care for all HIV-positive people and HIV prevention methods backed by good science."
WANT TO GET INVOLVED?
Visit C2EA online and find your local chapter.
IN THE NEW YORK AREA?
The C2EA- NY chapter meets TWICE A MONTH on (1st and 3rd) Saturdays from 4pm- 7pm
@ 44 Court Street in Brooklyn, 10th floor, Suite 1000.
This year the chapter's focus is on the 18-29 year age group who has exhibited the highest rise in infected cases.
*These statistics were pulled from The Center for Disease Control's website and the Kaiser Family Foundation's Fact Sheets (which cited the CDC).
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