African American/black MSM and HIV: Sobering Statistics
The prevalence of HIV/AIDS on the African American community is “a crisis, and it is not a new one,” according to Kevin Fenton, director of the Center for Disease Control’s National Center for HIV, STD & TB Prevention.
"Folks keep starting with the disease or sexuality and working backwards, which has never and will never work."
New data analysis recently released via slide set by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) points to an alarming increase in the number of HIV/AIDS cases among young African-American men who have sex with men (MSM). Specifically, young African American/black MSM in the 13-24 age category suffered the largest increase -- up nearly 80 percent from 2001 to 2005.
To view the complete slide set click here. We recently spoke with David Malebranche, MD, MPH, an Assistant Professor at the Division of General Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, GA, whose research explores the social, structural and cultural factors influencing sexual risk and HIV testing among black men.
Malebranche says the recently revised analysis isn't a surprise to him. "I think little progress has been made, because we refuse to address the fundamental issues such as racism, oppression, poverty, mental health, substance abuse, and educational/economic/employment disparities that serve as the foundation for this epidemic. Folks keep starting with the disease or sexuality and working backwards, which has never and will never work. It may make a small dent in the epidemic, such as doing increased testing/follow-up, early treatment, improve access and promote primary prevention through the ABCs, but the problems are much deeper than that, and have been embedded in our society for centuries. So I'm not sure why many public health officials think that these 'Mc-interventions' or quick interventions that don't address larger social and structural issues facing Black Americans will have a profound or sustained impact on the epidemic."
