Courtesy of The Grio
After 30 years of the HIV pandemic, one might think that terms such as “community collaboration” and “community participation” would be commonplace among those fighting the disease. But in many communities across the country, this is not the case. In fact, the clock seems to be rolling back to the early days, when the opinions and actions of a small minority marginalized the voices of those who were most impacted by the global pandemic.
Make no mistake: many people are indeed living longer with HIV disease as a result of improved treatments. But with all of the dynamic shifts in HIV treatment, prevention, and policy, it is especially disheartening — and, we would say, dangerous — that women, black gay men, people of color, heterosexual men, transgender individuals and, most notably, Black organizations still must fight to be heard by the decision makers who develop, implement, and allocate funding for HIV-related policies and programs.
We all know the statistics from the Centers for Disease Control. Blacks represent approximately 14 percent of the US population, but accounted for an estimated 44 percent of new HIV infections in 2009. Over the same period, the rate of new HIV infections among black women was 15 times that of White women, and over 3 times the rate of Hispanic/Latina women. At some point in their lives, approximately 1 in 16 black men will be diagnosed with HIV infection, many of whom will be black gay men, as will 1 in 32 Black women.