HIV/AIDS is more prevalent in African-Americans and Hispanics.
People of color in the United States are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS, in part because healthcare providers and educators do not understand the cultural values of these groups and do not provide them with adequate services related to HIV/AIDS (HIV/AIDS 13-14). Through December 1998, 108,874 male and 32,733 female African-Americans had died from AIDS-related causes. Among the cumulative reported cases of HIV/AIDS in African American males during that time, either adults or adolescents, 38 percent were among men having sex with other men and 35 percent were from injecting drugs, seven percent were from heterosexual contact, and 21 percent were from other forms of exposure. Among the African-American females, 44 percent got the disease from using injectable drugs, 37 percent from heterosexual contact, and 19 percent from other causes. As of 1999, HIV was the leading cause of death among African-American males and females aged 25 to 44. These figures are despite the fact that 90.4 percent of African-American females and 89.1 percent of African-American males reported having been taught about HIV/AIDS in school and 75.3 percent of African-American females and 70 percent of African-American males reported having discussed the disease with their parents or other adult family members, as of 1997.
Among Latinos through December, 1998, 59,033 males and 11,901 females had died of AIDS-related causes (HIV/AIDS 13-14). In male and adolescent Latinos AIDS cases through that time, 43 percent were in men who had sex with other men, 36 percent were from intravenous drug use, five percent were from heterosexual contact, and 16 percent were from other causes. Among Latina women, 41 percent of cases were from intravenous drug use, 47 percent were from heterosexual contact, and 12 percent were from other causes.
HIV was the second leading cause of death among La...