2005 New Cases: 1,806*

Black: 63%
White: 28%
Latino: 7%

Children
College Students
Women

Adolfo Aguilar
Outreach Worker, Chatham Social Health Council
Coleen Cunningham
Chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Duke University Medical Center
Milford Evans
Benefits Advocate
Gerrod Henderson
HIV Positive teenager
Peter Leone, M.D
Medical Director, HIV/STD Prevention & Care Branch
Jonathan Perry
HIV Positive
Fred Wiggins
HIV Positive
Del Williams, Ph.D
Manager, Epidemiology & Special Studies HIV/STD Prevention & Care Branch

HIV/AIDS on Campus
HIV/AIDS & Kids
HIV/AIDS & Latinos
HIV/AIDS & Women

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*NC Department of Health and Human Services

HIV/AIDS Among African Americans

The statistics show that in the new age of HIV/AIDS, minorities bear a disproportionate share of the disease's burden. Experts say their culture, lifestyle, and socioeconomic status all play a role in contributing to the spread of HIV.

"Minorities make up approximately 25% of the state's population, but the proportion of new HIV/AIDS reports we see, we see around 75% of those reports from 25% of the population," says Dr. Del Williams, Manager of Epidemiology & Special Studies for the state's HIV/STD Prevention & Care Branch.

Dr. Williams says HIV is hitting African Americans especially hard. State statistics show the rate of infection for all African Americans is seven times greater than for whites. For black women, the rate is 12 times higher than for white women. Guilford County outreach worker Lloyd Mickens says a lack of empowerment is part of the reason why.

"Women have always been real good at taking care of their health except for this area, with some women who aren't assertive and some women who have low self-esteem that are afraid that if I ask him to use a condom he's going to leave me or he's not going to want me anymore," says Mickens.

AIDS educators say among black men, there are some who secretly have sex with other men but live a straight lifestyle, which puts them and their partners at risk.

"It's very difficult to reach those people because there's no place they commune together," says Donnie Williamson, an HIV prevention coordinator. "There's no place where we can go and say, hey, all you people right here, this is a message. We have to target the population as a whole but make it reach those people as well."

Sexual behavior is not the only risk factor. Dr. Del Williams says socioeconomic status plays a part, too. People at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder typically have less access to high quality health care, which puts them at greater risk for health problems, such as HIV.

"And the unfortunate reality in North Carolina is that our African American community does have overall, at least on average, a lower earning capacity than the white population or the majority population," he says.

Milford Evans agrees, when it comes to preventing HIV and AIDS, money matters. He has worked as a benefits advocate, helping hundreds of people living with HIV.

"A lot of it has to do with being able to take care of yourself," says Evans.

Evans and Dr. Williams agree, when people don't have the money to take care of their basic needs, much less their health, they're at greater risk for getting HIV.

“It's real hard for the poor to have the access to these resources so they can be compliant with their medication because as far as even treatment goes, prevention, they come to my office for condoms because they don't have it in their budget to buy condoms,” Evans says. “They don't.”

"One of the things that happens is that if you don't have money for all of your necessities, you try to prioritize and generally food's going to come first," says Dr. Williams. "Health care may come last."