Quote:
Originally posted by Munchkin03
I've known that for quite some time. Even as early as the late 1980s, African-American women were contracting the virus at faster rates than the general population--because the earliest risk groups, gay men and hemophiliacs, were protecting themselves and their infection rate dropped.
|
The new infection and diagnosis rate among gay men is increasing, and I thought that they had passed the rates of African Americans. Plus there are people who fit into two groups like gay African American men. I haven't been up to date about the AIDS epidemic in the USA since I don't know any people with it anymore.
I must be honest and say that I think that it's an age thing. Since you are still a student and were in college not so long ago, you probably had more access to information. When I was in school, they had programs about safe/safer sex education and condom distribution. It's difficult to get the word out to people who are no longer in a college or university environment. In other words, AIDS education is no longer in my face and readily available. The last conversation that I have had about AIDS and HIV was when I went to my doctor who told me in explicit detail how to protect myself. She said that she tells all of her patients that because she has an obligation to protect them and keep them informed. I wonder how many doctors do that. I wonder how many of the new diagnosed cases actually have regular medical exams.