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   From: more-niggers@gmail.com   
      
   Health Officials Deal with Growing AIDS Epidemic in Latino   
   Community   
      
   A rise in AIDS cases in New York City’s immigrant community has   
   prompted city officials to call it a “public health failure.”   
      
   But New York, which saw a 4 percent rise in AIDS cases among   
   foreign-born Latinos in three years, to 31 percent, is not alone   
   in dealing with a growing crisis in the Latino community – and   
   health officials are scrambling to figure how to solve the   
   problem.   
      
   Hispanics represent just 16 percent of the U.S. population yet   
   account for 20 percent of total new HIV infections.   
      
   According to a recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation,   
   Hispanics have the highest rate of new AIDS cases in the country.   
      
   And the reason for the increase, according to experts, is   
   simple: Latinos are not getting tested.   
      
   “Latinos are more likely to get tested for HIV at later stages   
   of infection, when compared to any other population,” Tony   
   Ochoa, the program manager for the National Latino AIDS   
   Awareness Day, told Fox News Latino.   
      
   He said there is a need in the community to raise awareness   
   about the disease so the numbers do not keep climbing.   
      
   “We begin to see that it’s important to tackle HIV/AIDS   
   awareness at many fronts in order to impact change,” he said.   
      
   While Latinos are not the largest group with AIDS – African   
   Americans still top the list – health officials are concerned   
   about Latinos because many cultural factors prevent them from   
   being properly treated.   
      
   Daniel Leyva, senior director of the Latino Commission on AIDS,   
   said those factors include fear of discrimination,   
   stigmatization, and for undocumented immigrants, fear of   
   deportation.   
      
   “The Latino HIV gap is an index of multiple contextual   
   influences and inequities that make Latinos more likely to come   
   into contact with the disease, and less likely to treat it,”   
   Leyva said in an email.   
      
   Certain areas of the U.S. are hit hard by the AIDS epidemic.   
   Just 10 states account for over 80 percent of the new AIDS   
   diagnoses among Latinos. Apart from California and Puerto Rico,   
   almost all of the new cases are in the east coast.   
      
   Rocio Ruiz, prevention director for the Hyacinth AIDS Foundation   
   in New Jersey, says one of the keys to reaching out to the   
   immigrant community has been finding “culturally component   
   individuals” to take part in their community awareness programs.   
      
   The real challenge, she said, “is the openness of the community   
   to receive and talk about these issues.”   
   Added Ruiz: “For Latinos, the battle against HIV and AIDS is not   
   a thing of the past,” he said.   
      
   http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/health/2013/01/31/health-   
   officials-deal-with-growing-aids-epidemic-in-latino-community/   
      
            
      
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