According to BlackWomensHealth.Com the AIDS rate among Black women is three times as high as that among Latino women and 18 times as high as that among White women. Today Black women make up more than half of all women who have died of AIDS.
Although African Americans make up 13 percent of the population, that group actually accounts for 41 percent of all AIDS cases in the United States.
The Surgeon General of the United States, states that there are 33.4 million HIV-infected people around the world, and 665,000 in the United States. It is estimated that 50 percent of all new HIV infections in the United States are among people under 25, the majority of these young people are infected sexually. Nearly half (44 percent) of the HIV infections in the age group 13 to 24 were reported among young females and over half (63 percent) were among African Americans.
As African American women, it is important for us to protect ourselves. No man is worth your health--or ultimately your life. The only way to limit your chances of contracting this disease is to practice abstinence. However, if you do choose to be intimate, use a condom. If we don't take care of self, no one else will care to take care of us.
Here are a couple links to articles pertaining to community involvement and recent news concerning HIV/AIDS:
The Links, Inc. presents Black Women and HIV/AIDS: Out of the Shadows
Important HIV/AIDS Links:
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