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The Impact of HIV Policies and Politics on Communities of Color

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HIV/AIDS in U.S. Communities of Color

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Abstract

Medicaid, Medicare, and the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program are the three primary public payers of HIV/AIDS care in the USA today (see Fig. 1). Though far from flawless, they create access to services for scores of underserved minority people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). These programs are key to scaling back the ominous and disproportionate presence of HIV/AIDS among underserved people of color.

In 2005,* this presence was visible in the demographics of PLWHA (see Fig. 2):

  • Approximately half of the people who developed HIV/AIDS were blacks† and one-fifth were Hispanics.1

  • African American men were nearly eight times more likely to have AIDS than non-Hispanic white men, and Hispanic men were nearly three times more likely to have AIDS than non-Hispanic white men.2

  • African American women were nearly 23 times more likely to have AIDS than non-Hispanic white women, and Hispanic women were five times more likely to have AIDS than non-Hispanic white women.3

  • American Indian and Alaska Natives were more than twice likely to have AIDS than non-Hispanic whites.2

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Notes

  1. 1.

    At the time of publication, 2005 was the most recent year for which HIV/AIDS statistics were made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

  2. 2.

    “Black” is used by the US Census Bureau.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Peabody Health Center, AIDS Arms, Inc., Dallas, TX, U.S.

    M. Keith Rawlings

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  1. M. Keith Rawlings
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  2. Deborah Parham Hopson
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Correspondence to M. Keith Rawlings .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. General Internal Medicine Unit, Harvard Medical School Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Valerie Stone

  2. Div. AIDS, Harvard Medical School Div. AIDS, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Bisola Ojikutu

  3. Peabody Health Center, AIDS Arms Inc., Peabody Health Center, Dallas, Texas, USA

    M. Keith Rawlings

  4. Section of Infectious Diseases, Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Kimberly Y. Smith

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Rawlings, M.K., Hopson, D.P. (2009). The Impact of HIV Policies and Politics on Communities of Color. In: Stone, V., Ojikutu, B., Rawlings, M., Smith, K. (eds) HIV/AIDS in U.S. Communities of Color. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-98152-9_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-98152-9_14

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