AIDS Number One Killer Of Young Black Females

AIDS Number One Killer Of Young Black Females

By C. R. Williams

A 6 o’clock television news program announced recently that AIDS is the number one killer of African American women between the ages of 19-27 in America today. The alarming statistics sent a shock wave through the Black Community. Experts say that there are some of risk factors at work that can explain the rise in the disease among Black women.

Some researchers point to the cruel reality of the march of Black men through the penal system. While African Americans make up only 13 percent of the population, half of the residents incarcerated in the penal system are Black. There are currently more Black men in prison than in college. The numbers have grown five-fold in the last 20 years. By 2001, one in ten Black males were sucked into the prison system, representing nearly one million by the turn of the new millennium. How does this impact on the rise of AIDS cases among African American women?

They say that the HIV/AIDS infection is "widespread" behind the walls and that the rate of the disease in prison is six times higher than on the streets. Seventy-five percent of these women contract the disease through unprotected sex. Experts in the field say that the reason that the number is so high is because the men that these women are involved with are often living a secret alternative lifestyle called, "keeping it on the down-low." Men in this situation do not consider themselves gay or bisexual. Therefore, they do not heed to the public service announcements warning them about unprotected sex between males, because they consider themselves heterosexual men who like to have sex with men for a change. Most of these men, learn their lifestyles in prison.

Lora Branch a worker in the field said that the "down low" has always existed and that the AIDS virus has devastated the Sister Circle so badly, because women have not dealt with it. Now that the numbers have risen so sharply, it must be dealt with.

"It should have been an issue 20 years ago," Branch said.

This new trend of infection can be found in Atlanta, Baltimore, Los Angeles and Philadelphia. Dr. Ron Simmons the director and co founder of "Us Helping Us" (UHU) made a moving statement in relation to the spread of the disease among minority women.

"We need a mobilization effort to emphasize the HIV/AIDS state of emergency among minority women. We are urging minorities to get tested for HIV/AIDS and become educated about a disease that is the number one killer of black men and women ages 25-44, according to the Center for Disease Control," Simmons said strongly.

UHU was founded in 1985 as an alternative to the white-run HIV/AIDS organizations of the 1980’s. Minorities and their families devastated by the disease found that during that time the agencies were not meeting their needs. UHU offers prevention programs, holistic health services, HIV/AIDS testing, case management, group and individual therapy, condom distribution and information hotlines. UHU is the only national non-profit HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment agency founded by Blacks. While the organization was founded to meet the needs of minorities, particularly Black people, they open their doors and hearts to anyone afflicted with the disease. They are very involved in working around the epidemic as it impacts on Black and Latino women.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) Black women make up more than two-thirds (64%) and that number is rapidly growing.

The psychological and sociological impact on families dealing with AIDS is tremendous, especially when it is the mother who is infected. Activists report that families must cope with the devastating progression of the disease, its complicated medication regime, the grief that comes with caring for an ailing family member, and the possible death of the mother. Although it has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt, that HIV/AIDS can only be acquired through certain means, researchers say that there is still a lot of fear associated around the disease.

Blacks Educating Blacks About Sexual Health Issues (BEBASHI) reports that families must also deal with the awful stigma that goes along with having a family member with AIDS. Some families choose to protectively isolate themselves from extended family and the community, but this cuts them off from valuable support systems during the stressful time. It also places the infected individual and their family at a high risk for mental and physical health disorders such as depression, post-traumatic stress syndrome, drug use, inability to maintain employment, criminal behavior, behavioral problems in children and school failure.

depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and anxiety, developmental deficits, and behavioral problems (e.g., drug or alcohol use, school failure, inability to maintain a job, and criminal behavior).

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