Week 7
1035 words by Lanane
Some of the problems that I finf troublesome in the world have been proven to be basically on the same page as my views, as far as when I asked people on campus. We all came to the consensus that diseases amongst African American people are one of the bigger issues that are at hand in the world that we live in today.Of all racial and ethnic groups in the United States, HIV and AIDS have hit African Americans the hardest. The reasons are not directly related to race or ethnicity, “being poor,” sexually transmitted diseases, and stigma (negative attitudes, beliefs, and actions directed at people living with HIV/AIDS or directed at people who do things that might put them at risk for HIV/ AIDS. When we look at HIV/AIDS by race and ethnicity, we see that African Americans have more illness. Even though blacks, including African Americans, account for about 13% of the US population, they account for about half (49%) of the people who get HIV and AIDS. Shorter survival times. Blacks with AIDS often don’t live as long as people of other races and ethnic groups with AIDS. This is due to the barriers mentioned above. More deaths. For African Americans and other blacks, HIV/AIDS is a leading cause of death. The reality is similar for children: HIV/AIDS affects black children the most. In 2005, 104 (63%) of the 166 children under the age of 13 diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in 33 states were black. As the pie charts below show, blacks account for about half of all people living with HIV/AIDS within each sex category. According to information from 33 states, during 2005, among men, 41% of men living with HIV/AIDS were black among women, 64% of women living with HIV/AIDS were black. ANd that’s crazy, we as a minority have to do far better than what we are doin now! For black men, the most common ways of getting HIV are, having unprotected sex with another man who has HIV, sharing injection drug works (like needles or syringes) with someone who has HIV, having unprotected sex with a woman who has HIV. Your risk of getting HIV or passing it to someone else depends on several things. Do you know what they are? You might want to talk to someone who knows about HIV. You can also abstain from sex (do not have oral, anal, or vaginal sex) until you are in a relationship with only one person, are having sex with only each other, and each of you knows the other’s HIV status.
If both you and your partner have HIV, use condoms to prevent other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and possible infection with a different strain of HIV. If only one of you has HIV, use a latex condom and lubricant every time you have sex. If you have, or plan to have, more than one sex partner, consider the obvious by getting tested for HIV, if you are a man who has had sex with other men, get tested at least once a year. If you are a woman who is planning to get pregnant or who is pregnant, get tested as soon as possible, before you have your baby. Talk about HIV and other STDs with each partner before you have sex. Learn as much as you can about each partner’s past behavior (sex and drug use), and consider the risks to your health before you have sex. Ask your partners if they have recently been tested for HIV; encourage those who have not been tested to do so.
Use a latex condom and lubricant every time you have sex. If you think you may have been exposed to another STD such as gonorrhea, syphilis, or Chlamydia trachomatis infection, get treatment. These diseases can increase your risk of getting HIV. So please get tested asap. This stuff is not a joke!
Get vaccinated against hepatitis B virus. Even if you think you have low risk for HIV infection, get tested whenever you have a regular medical check-up. Do not inject drugs that are not prescribed by your doctor into your body. You can get HIV through needles, syringes, and other works if they are contaminated with the blood of someone who has HIV. Drugs also cloud your mind, which may result in riskier sex. If you do inject drugs, please follow proper precautions, by using only clean and sterilized needles, syringes. Never share needles, syringes. Be careful not to expose yourself to another person’s blood. Get tested for HIV test at least once a year. Consider getting counseling and treatment for your drug use. Get vaccinated against hepatitis A and B viruses. Do not have sex when you are taking drugs or drinking alcohol because being high can make you more likely to take risks. I always remember this by forming a little scheme. For Instance, AB’s:A=Abstinence, B=Be Faithful, C=Condoms. Prevention problems that we African Americans face mostly are poverty and fear. People who don’t have much money cannot always get good health care. Day-to-day living may be more important than taking care of their health. Poor people may need to spend their time, energy, and money just to get food, shelter, and transportation. This can affect whether a person gets information about HIV and AIDS and whether they have access to HIV testing. If they become infected with HIV, they may not know it, they may not get treatment soon enough, or may not get treatment at all.
Denial. Some African Americans may believe that HIV is not a concern for the African American community or that HIV is mostly a white, gay male disease. Topics such as homosexuality, sex outside of marriage, drug use, and other sensitive issues often make talking about HIV and AIDS a challenge. African Americans may find these discussions even more challenging when already faced with the issues of race. But, you know what, you are going to be in bigger trouble if you are just walking around wondering if you have a disease, rather than getting checked and or seeking the proper aid needed to be possibly cured again.