Communities Rally for 4th Annual National Latino AIDS Awareness
Posted on: Monday, 16 October 2006, 18:01 CDT
NEW YORK, Oct. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- National Latino AIDS Awareness campaigns are underway as of Sunday, October 15, 2006 with local HIV testing campaigns and prevention education nationwide. The awareness campaign which has adopted the slogan, "Saber es Poder -- Knowledge is Power," encourages Latinos to get tested for HIV.
"Latinos continue to be disproportionately affected by HIV, comprising over 20% of HIV/AIDS cases nationwide. Limited access to prevention and care, cultural barriers, language barriers, and immigration status have contributed to this disparity," said Wesley Tahsir-Rodriguez, Director of Health Policy for the Latino Commission on AIDS. "This campaign represents a call to action for Latinos to break down cultural taboos to protect their lives and the lives of those they love by getting tested and learning about HIV."
Recent CDC HIV surveillance data for Latinos shows the situation to be dire. In 2002, HIV/AIDS was the third leading cause of death among Latino men aged 35 to 44 and the fourth leading cause of death among Latino women in the same age group. By the end of 2004, an estimated 93,163 Latinos with AIDS had died.
A number of cultural, socioeconomic, and health-related factors contribute to the HIV epidemic in the Latino community. Because Latino Americans or their parents have emigrated from many Latin countries, there is no single Latino culture in the United States. More than 1 in 5 (22.6%) Latinos live in poverty. Various socioeconomic problems associated with poverty, including limited access to high-quality health care, directly or indirectly increase the risk for HIV infection. Recent immigrants face additional challenges, such as lack of information about HIV/AIDS and social isolation, which may increase their risk of exposure to HIV.
Testing, prevention and HIV education events are taking place nationwide in honor of National Latino AIDS Awareness. For more information, or to locate an event near you, visit http://www.nlaad.org/.
The Latino Commission on AIDS is a national and regional nonprofit membership organization dedicated to improving and expanding health promotion, research, treatment and other services to the Latino community through organizing, education, model program development, capacity building and training. For more information, visit http://www.latinoaids.org/.
Latino Commission on AIDS
CONTACT: Guillermo Chacon of Latino Commission on AIDS, +1-212-920-1611
Web site: http://www.latinoaids.org/http://www.nlaad.org/
Source: PRNewswire
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