VivirLatino

Today marks World AIDS Day and despite all the commercials, campaigns, and condoms, AIDS remains a dirty big secret in the Latino community. Acoording to the Latino Commission on AIDS, while we rep about 14% of the population in the U.S., we represent 20% of AIDS cases inside the US. Some more scary stats about AIDS in our community:

• Latinas, often the victims of sexism and machismo, now account for 25% of all Latino infections, as compared to only 2% in 1981.

• Latina intravenous drugs users are five times more likely to have AIDS than their White counterparts. Latino men who are intravenous drug users are 10 times more likely than White drug users to have AIDS.

• Latino men who have sex with men are three times more likely to test positive for HIV than White men who have sex with men.

• Heterosexual Latino men are 10 times more likely to test positive than their White counterparts. Latina heterosexuals are 7 times more likely than their White counterparts to be infected with HIV.

• Latino teens in the United States make up 19% of the national teenage population ages 13-19, but account for 20% of the cumulative AIDS cases.

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