One of the activities which have been blamed for a rise of HIV infection and transmission among the black community in America is substance abuse and especially Intravenous drug use (IDU).
Research has demonstrated that drug use is responsible for HIV prevalence with new data suggesting that intravenous drug use accounts for approximately 25% of the new HIV infections among African Americans (Lowinson and Ruiz 1097). This is mostly as a result of the disproportionate overrepresentation of African Americans among intravenous drug users.
An explanation for this overrepresentation by African Americans in drug use is provided by Lowinson and Ruiz who note that “many ethnic minorities view drug abuse as an adaptive response to oppressive societal conditions” (1097). Substance abuse results in an increase in risk behavior such as unprotected sexual encounters as well as needle sharing.
Ward reports that the greatest impact of the HIV and AIDS epidemic has being among men who have sex with men (MSM) (430). Research conducted by the CDC on the prevalence of HIV among MSM revealed that not only were HIV incidents among young black MSM higher but that new infections were also high.
Stigma and homophobia in the African American community have been blamed for the rise in HIV/AIDS infection rates amongst this group. Stigma has resulted in the black MSM population being highly secretive, a phenomena termed as “down low” by the media.
This leads to a situation whereby those who engage in male to male sexual contact do it in secret while maintaining a heterosexual face to the society. Wright suggests that this attitude has led to a scenario whereby black men lead homosexual lives but are unwilling to be labeled as “gay” and therefore do not take in prevention messages addressed to the gay community since they do not regard themselves as part of it.
Another factor that has resulted in the resulted in the heightening of the HIV crises in African Americans is that this group continues to have a markedly higher rate of other STDs.
Laurencin, Christensen and Taylor document that the highest rates of sexually transmitted diseases such as gonorrhea and syphilis are found among the black population (37). HIV/AIDS has been known to have some relationship with other sexually transmitted diseases. A person who is suffering from certain STDs has a greater likelihood of being infected by the HIV/AIDS virus as compared to a person who has no STDs.
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In addition to this, the CDC reveals that a person who has other STDs in addition to HIV infection poses a greater risk to others since the chances for infecting them with HIV is multiplied. The reason for this is that some STDs such as gonorrhea result in inflammation which increased one’s susceptibility and infectiousness.
Lack of awareness of one’s HIV status has been blamed for the prevalence of HIV and AIDS in much of sub-Saharan Africa. This scenario has been the same amongst African Americans where unawareness levels remain high. Laurencin, Christensen and Taylor declare that the high level of unawareness of one’s HIV status among African Americans is a public health concern (40).
A survey in 2004 found out that a third of African Americans had never been tested for HIV/AIDS. In addition to this, black MSM exhibited an even higher unawareness level with up to two thirds of them never having been tested for HIV infection (Laurencin, Christensen and Taylor 40).
There has been a notable relationship between incarceration and the prevalence of HIV/AIDS infections. A report by the CDC reveals that the infection rage is 5 times as high for prison inmates than for the rest of the population.
All this is under the backdrop of an increase in the number of inmates as well as a disproportionate representation of the African American community in our prison system. According to McTighe and Jervis, black men are imprisoned at almost six times the rate of white men and constitute approximately 35% of the total prison population (1).
One of the reasons for the high number of incarcerated African Americans is the national drug policy. Mauer and King document that the “war on drugs” which was officially started in the 1980s resulted in an unprecedented growth of the prison population in the United States with drug arrests more than tripling within the last three decades (2).
HIV transmission has been linked to the socio-economic status of people. This is because a person’s socio-economic status influences their lifestyle as well as their ability t
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