While the rates of HIV and AIDS infections among whites have decreased since the epidemic began, the rate of infection in communities of color continues to climb.
Lack of awareness about HIV infection, denial about risky behaviors, homophobia, substance abuse and lack of health care contribute to higher rates among Latinos and African-Americans, health department officials say.
“We have noted that people of color wait to be tested longer than other people do,” said Bob Bongiovanni, who oversees HIV/AIDS programs for the state Department of Health. “It’s built into the larger issue of being shut out of health care much more than other people.”
“While the proportion of new HIV cases among whites has fallen 44 percent from 1993 to 2004, the proportion of Latino cases has increased 23 percent over the same period,” according to Liany Arroyo of the National Council of La Raza’s Institute for Hispanic Health.
Nationwide, Latinos make up 14 percent of the population but represent 20 percent of those living with AIDS, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. African-Americans, 12 percent of the population, account for nearly half of all people living with the infection.
In 2006 in Colorado, 20.6 percent of new HIV cases and 28.2 percent of AIDS cases were Latino; in 2004, Latinos accounted for 21.7 percent and 21.1 percent, respectively.
Colorado African-Americans accounted for 13.6 percent of new HIV cases and 20.1 percent of AIDS cases in 2006, compared with 19 percent and 18.4 percent in 2004.
Latinos make up 19 percent of Colorado’s population, and African-Americans less than 5 percent.
Though the majority of those diagnosed are men who have sex with men, women are being diagnosed at a higher rate than ever. Nationally, as of 2004, 79 percent of new female AIDS cases since the beginning of the epidemic were Latina and black women and teens, according to the Leadership Campaign on AIDS.
Latinos were the only group to see the rate of heterosexual infections double between 2001 and 2004, from 23 percent to 51 percent among women infected, according to an NCLR study.
Bernadette Berzoza was diagnosed in 1989, and she says she was infected by her husband, an intravenous drug user. A year later, she and two other women co-founded Sisters of Color United for Education in Denver to reach out to women at risk.
“The belief was that it only happened to gay men,” Berzoza recalled. “I knew women who had partners who were incarcerated, IV drug users and having extramarital affairs. At first, it was a way to educate myself without saying I needed it.”
The Colorado Department of Health directs more than $3 million in state and federal funds to outreach programs. Last year, the National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention funneled $7.9 million into Colorado for HIV programs.
Lately, more of the funds are going toward culturally sensitive programs, said Imani Latif, executive director of It Takes a Village, an Aurora nonprofit focused on outreach in the African-American community.
“It’s not just about having someone who looks like you; it’s having someone who understands the specific issues,” Latif said. “When we talk about cultural competence, we are talking about what it’s like to walk in somebody’s shoes.”
Catholicism and the taboo that surrounds discussing sexuality in the Latino community also contribute to the increased rate, said Guillermo Chacon, vice president of the Latino Commission on AIDS in New York.
“Sexuality is a very hard issue to raise from a religious perspective and to talk openly,” Chacon said. “When we apply all of those situations to HIV and AIDS, we are going to have a problem.”
Juanita Maldonado, 31, was diagnosed three years ago after asking for the test while she was pregnant with her fifth child. She said her husband gave her the disease.
“I thought there were possibilities, but it’s easy to not think about these things when you are with someone you love,” she said.
Now, Maldonado talks to other women about her experience through Sisters of Color. The goal at Sisters, which trains and serves hundreds of women each year, is to drive home the point that HIV can hit anyone.
Sisters has trained nearly 400 people over the years who then take the message of prevention to their neighborhoods, churches and social circles.
“I never will say this was a blessing,” Berzoza tells groups of women. “I had to endure it, and I’m doing it. But if I could have changed it a long time ago, I would have. So take this information and read it and live it and prevent yourself from being infected.”
Staff writer Elizabeth Aguilera can be reached at 303-954-1372 or eaguilera@denverpost.com.
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23%
Increase in the proportion of Latinos with new HIV cases from 1993 to 2004
44%
Decrease in the proportion of whites with new HIV cases from 1993 to 2004
19%
Colorado’s Latino population
20.6%
Proportion of Latinos among new Colorado HIV cases in 2006, down from 21.7 percent in 2004
28.2%
Proportion of Latinos among Colorado AIDS cases in 2006, up from 21.1 percent in 2004
Sources: National Council of La Raza, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
