SavvyHealthGirl's Blog

As you can see I am on a roll this week! I guess I am making up for loss time over the last month. But also this seems to be a hot week for health issues. The cover of yesterday’s Washington Post shows the photo of a man of Spanish/Hispanic descent, bent over with his hands in head and the headline reads “AIDS Among Latinos on the Rise.” It’s such a dismal photo and all I could do was shake my head in sadness. According to the Washington Post, “Though Hispanics make up about 14 percent of the U.S. population, they represented 22 percent of new HIV and AIDS diagnoses tallied by federal officials in 2006.” While the rates in the Hispanic community are up, Blacks still have the highest rates of AIDS in this country (see my post on Black women and HIV/AIDS). However, immigration status as well as the language and cultural barriers that the Hispanic community faces make the threat of this epidemic unique. Naturally, those who are in this country illegally, fear deportation thus making it a challenge to seek diagnosis and treatment.

We have always heard that this disease knows no color, no race, or gender, however it is plaguing minority communities at alarming rates. Why? Is it cultural, issues with access to care, or lack of knowledge? I say, it’s all of the above. In looking at the Hispanic community’s access to resources, it is sad that the CDC has only 2 out of 17 approved HIV programs that target this community. Needless to say, there is a desperate need for adequate health resources and services in the Hispanic community.

As our country’s migrant population steadily increases, it is critical that the public health community take a step back, actually forward and re-evaluate the challenges we face in effectively reaching their health concerns. This epidemic has a death grip on minority communities and it truly is going to take the entire “village” to loosen it.

In the Black community, it’s the Black man’s pride and in the Hispanic community it is the machismo of the man that continuously place our women’s health at risk. But it is often our lack of self-love or cloudy vision of love or infatuation, and sometimes our naiveness that cause us to put our OWN health at risk.  To my Latinas, stay true to your decision to practice safe sex at ALL times. He may tell you he’s safe and doesn’t sleep around, so you don’t need a condom. This may all be true, but you have to ask yourself, “Do I really know where he was 3, 5 or 7 years before me?” Sometimes that’s how long it takes before the virus shows up in the body.  He may even say he doesn’t like the way condoms feel or using them makes him feel less of a man. Whatever he may say, stand your ground and don’t give in, no matter how much he begs. If he truly cares for you and loves you, then he should also care about your health, safety and well-being. But you must love yourself even more. Have an open discussion about HIV/AIDS and suggest going together to get tested. It will save your life!

Cuidate!