Protecting the health of Latino communities : combating HIV/AIDS

Latino communities face a health crisis that threatens to imperil their future health, prosperity and human potential. That threat is HIV/AIDS.The U.S. hiv epidemic has expanded from one which primarily impacted white gay men in the late 1980\ue2\u20ac\u2122s, to an epidemic which, in 2000, affects a more diverse population than ever before. hiv prevention efforts must aggressively target a wide range of communities, from new populations of white gay men, who remain at high risk, to gay men of color, African-American and Latino women at risk, injection drug users of all races, and adolescents as they come of age.While African Americans face the greatest hiv and aids burden in the United States\ue2\u20ac\u201daccounting for an estimated 55% of new infections\ue2\u20ac\u201dthe toll of the epidemic among Latinos cannot be ignored. Latinos in some areas of the country, primarily the Northeast, Puerto Rico, and Florida, are among the populations now at greatest risk of infection. Overall, Latinos represent an estimated 20% of new hiv infections