AIDS Statistics

On my search for more blog worthy articles on Newsweek I saw tittle that caught my eye. I usually try to get sources from different sites because some sites generally stay to one side of the spectrum, but the article HIV Still Plagues the US had some really interesting statistics.

What’s interesting is that the research shows that a person’s sexual network, more than just his or her lifestyle choices, defines the risk of getting HIV in America. So, black and Hispanic women are at increased risk due to the instability of their sexual relationships —which is attributed to the high rate of incarceration of men in their networks—and their vulnerable or dependent economic situation, which may cause them to be fearful of suggesting safer-sex options to their companions. And black men who have sex with men are at high risk because of the likelihood of their choosing to engage in sexual activity with someone who is racially similar, and because of the prevalence of HIV within their sexual networks.

These statistics make me think that AIDS is a racist disease. It obviously doesn't only infect certain races, but they are more venerable due to their culture. I really don't have much to say on the matter the statistics say it all.

More than 1 in 30 adults in Washington, D.C., are HIV-infected—a prevalence higher than that reported in Ethiopia, Nigeria, or Rwanda. Certain U.S. subpopulations are particularly hard hit. In New York City, 1 in 40 blacks, 1 in 10 men who have sex with men, and 1 in 8 injection-drug users are HIV-infected, as are 1 in 16 black men in Washington, D.C. In several U.S. urban areas, the HIV prevalence among men who have sex with men is as high as 30%—as compared with a general-population prevalence of 7.8% in Kenya and 16.9% in South Africa.

The first sentence in this list of statistics is the scariest of all. More than One in Thirty adults?! You have a better chance of getting AIDS in DC than getting it in AIDS ridden countries.