AIDS in black America

This is the case of another domestic problem that is not receiving the attention it deserves- domestically.

I've been interested in the issue of AIDS in the black community for a couple of years now. I remember an ABC news series on entitled AIDS in Black America. CNN has a section in their report on Black America.

Some things to know:

Black Americans make up 13 percent of the U.S. population but account for over 50 percent of all new cases of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. That infection rate is eight times the rate of whites. Among women, the numbers are even more shocking—- almost 70 percent of all newly diagnosed HIV-positive women in the United States are black women. Black women are 23 times more likely to be diagnosed with AIDS than white women, with heterosexual contact being the overwhelming method of infection in black America. [ABC]
Further, blacks represent one in eight Americans, but one in every two people living with HIV in the United States is black. AIDS is the leading cause of death among black women between ages 25 and 34 and is the second-leading cause of death in black men 35-44. [CNN]

Contributing to the problem are:
a disproportionate number of black men in prison where there are AIDS infection rates five times higher than outside; drugs and the failure of support for needle exchange programs; more sex partners among black men than white men; the stigma of homosexuality, especially among blacks; and the lack of leadership here in America, as opposed to African nations.

I struggled last year to integrate this issue into my areas of interest for dissertation topics, but came up empty.