Black Directions

Why is AIDS Ten Times Worse among Black Americans?

Silence Still Equals Death

1. "the adult black AIDS rate was almost four times the white rate": Centers for Disease Control, HIV/AIDS Surveillance (Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control, 1990): 13, http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/stats/hasrlink.htm, accessed 28 September 2005.

2. "No other racial group is so afflicted.": National Center for Health Statistics, Health, United States, 2004 with Chartbook on Trends in the Health of Americans (Hyattsville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2004): 154-5.

Causes and Solutions to the Black HIV/AIDS Problem

1. "likely to die sooner than a person of any other racial group": Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report, 2003, Vol. 15 (Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2004): 16, 20, 26, http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/stats/hasrlink.htm, accessed 14 September 2005.

2. "top ten causes of death": National Center for Health Statistics, Health, United States, 2004 with Chartbook on Trends in the Health of Americans (Hyattsville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2004): 154.

3. "cases among blacks increased by seven percent": Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report, 2003, Vol. 15 (Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2004): 12, 20, 26, http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/stats/hasrlink.htm, accessed 14 September 2005.

4. "equally likely to inject illegal drugs": “Injection Drug Use Update: 2002 and 2003,” The NSDUH Report, April 8, 2005, p. 2, http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/2k5/ivdrug/ivdrug.pdf, accessed 19 September 2005.

5. "black injection drug users are more likely to transmit HIV": Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report, 2003, Vol. 15 (Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2004): 18, 20, 26, http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/stats/hasrlink.htm, accessed 14 September 2005.

6. "poorer injection drug users are more likely to share injection equipment": Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, “What are Injection Drug Users (IDU) HIV Prevention Needs,” Fact Sheet (San Francisco: University of California, San Francisco, 2003), http://www.caps.ucsf.edu/IDU.html, accessed 19 September 2005.

7. "nine times higher than the non-prison population": Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, “What is the Role of Prisons in HIV, Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention?,” Fact Sheet (San Francisco: University of California, San Francisco, 2000), http://www.caps.ucsf.edu/inmaterev.html, accessed 19 September 2005.

8. "six times more likely than whites to be in prison": “Criminal Offender Statistics,” Bureau of Justice Statistics, June 27, 2005, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/crimoff.htm, accessed 19 September 2005.

9. "directly or indirectly can lead to the transmission of HIV": Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, “What is the Role of Prisons in HIV, Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention?,” Fact Sheet (San Francisco: University of California, San Francisco, 2000), http://www.caps.ucsf.edu/inmaterev.html, accessed 19 September 2005.

10. "made available to prisoners to reduce the transmission of HIV": Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, “What is the Role of Prisons in HIV, Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention?,” Fact Sheet (San Francisco: University of California, San Francisco, 2000), http://www.caps.ucsf.edu/inmaterev.html , accessed 19 September 2005.

11. "receive lower quality medical care": Nicole Lurie, “Health Disparities—Less Talk, More Action,” New England Journal of Medicine 353(7), August 18, 2005, 727-729.

12. "one of the reasons for higher rates of black AIDS deaths": John-Manuel Andriote, “HIV/AIDS and African Americans: A State of ‘Emergency,’” Population Reference Bureau, 2005, http://www.prb.org/Template.cfm?Section=PRB&template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=12267, accessed 15 September 2005.

13. "with her being the ideal HIV/AIDS patient": Kendra Lee, “Should I Take These Pills?,” Real Health: The Guide to Black Wellness, Summer 2005, http://www.realhealthmag.com/articles/301_1976.shtml, accessed 15 September 2005; “African Americans and HIV/AIDS,” HIV/AIDS Policy Fact Sheet, Kaiser Family Foundation, February 2005, http://www.kff.org/hivaids/6089-02.cfm, accessed 15 September 2005; Jacob Levenson, The Secret Epidemic: The Story of AIDS and Black America (New York: Anchor 2005).

14. "Late testers are more likely to die from AIDS than early testers": John-Manuel Andriote, “HIV/AIDS and African Americans: A State of ‘Emergency,’” Population Reference Bureau, 2005, http://www.prb.org/Template.cfm?Section=PRB&template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=12267, accessed 15 September 2005; “Late Versus Early Testing of HIV—16 Sites, United States, 2000—2003,” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, June 27, 2003, 52(25): 581-586, http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5225a2.htm, accessed 15 September 2005.

15. "Blacks express more homophobic and sexist attitudes than whites": Robert C. Smith and Richard Seltzer, Race, Class, and Culture: A Study in Afro-American Mass Opinion (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1992), 39-42, 69-77; Gregory B. Lewis, “Black-White Differences in Attitudes Toward Homosexuality and Gay Rights,” Public Opinion Quarterly 67: 59-78.

16. "marry and identify as heterosexual than white men who have sex with men": Gregory B. Lewis, “Black-White Differences in Attitudes Toward Homosexuality and Gay Rights,” Public Opinion Quarterly 67: 61; "HIV/AIDS Among Racial/Ethnic Minority Men Who Have Sex With Men--United States, 1989-1998," MMWR 49(1), January 14, 2000, pp.4-11, http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm4901a2.htm.

17. "influence over the condom use of their partners": Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “HIV/AIDS Among Women,” December 2, 2004, http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/pubs/facts/women.htm, accessed 15 September 2005; John-Manuel Andriote, “HIV/AIDS and African Americans: A State of ‘Emergency,’” Population Reference Bureau, 2005, http://www.prb.org/Template.cfm?Section=PRB&template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=12267, accessed 15 September 2005.

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