New York City higher rate of HIV infection of African - American women

In New York City there’s an alarming rate of African - American women at high risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. It’s unfortunate that amongst New York City unlimited diverse population, the African-American woman have steadily and continue to become affected with the HIV virus. Even though nowadays medication has shown improvement to treating HIV, more needed towards the prevention of becoming HIV-positive. Numerous factors must be addressed, and educational programs becoming readily available to the urban modern lifestyle’s that African American as well Women of all ethnicity partake. Change begins with acknowledgement and understandings.
History of HIV/AIDS
Over 33 million people around the world are infected with AIDS or Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. Of which over a million people are infected with AIDS in the United States. At first, AIDS in the United States was considered a white gay man’s disease. In fact, AIDS was once referred to as “The Gay Plague” (Shilts, 1987). However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported in 2005 that women now make up 26 percent of all new HIV/AIDS diagnoses. African American women are infected at even higher rates than Women of other racial and ethnic groups. In 2005, close to 127,000 women were living with HIV/AIDS. Black women made up 64 percent of those women living with HIV/AIDS. In 2004, HIV was the leading cause of death for black women aged 25-34
These statistics of AIDS among African American women are alarming. Yet awareness about HIV/AIDS among black women in the United States is minimal. Clearly, more attention needs to be focused on AIDS here in the United States, where it is an epidemic especially among African American women. In June 1981, when the first cases of the disease that later became known as AIDS were