![young black gay men hiv positive not aware young black gay men hiv positive not aware](https://images.ctfassets.net/pdtztwrkphaf/tbart_featured_tb_81527_image_image/997a0589fe77bb3d890c2173deead646/yolo-akili_600px.jpg)
Parker said because of the smaller dating pool, risk of infection increases once the virus has entered the community. So, there are few eligible men to women for Black relationships, for Black couples.”
![young black gay men hiv positive not aware young black gay men hiv positive not aware](https://www.8shots.com/img/s/v-10/p964077650-4.jpg)
“African Americans tend to have higher rates of incarceration, homicide, things of that nature. “There are fewer men in the pool,” Parker said. Kim Parker, a public health researcher based in Texas who has studied HIV for more than 20 years, says culture plays a big role in these rates, because Black men and women tend to be romantically connected. Knopf says behaviors like condom usage and multiple sex partners are similar across race. “That just isn't true, nor is there a behavioral difference in terms of sexual behavior,” Knopf said. Knopf said it is important not to blame Black women for these disparities - or assume they’re fundamentally different from white women. “Again, it sort of circles back to the structural racism issues, it can be really difficult to actually engage in health care,” Knopf said. And if a woman has children, there is a higher chance she must take care of them and other household duties. They’re also more likely to be uninsured or underinsured. That's because people of color are more likely to be essential workers and not have flexibility to leave work for medical appointments. Knopf says like other health disparities, racism is behind the high HIV rates in Black women. “Black Americans are the least likely to be tested, the least likely to be linked to care once they are tested and found to be HIV positive, and also the least likely to be adequately treated and virally suppressed,” Knopf said. And an overwhelming majority of new infections for women are from heterosexual contact.Īmy Knopf researches HIV prevention as an assistant professor at the Indiana University School of Nursing. Yet many women are unaware of their status. Black women account for about 60 percent of cases among women in the U.S., even though they’re only about 13 percent of the female population. In Indiana, 53 percent of newly diagnosed HIV cases among women in 2020 were Black women - yet they make up less than 10 percent of the female population in Indiana. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about one in four people living with HIV are women.īlack women are being hit especially hard. HIV outreach campaigns have traditionally focused on reaching injection drug users or white men who have sex with other men. “So they would not be a burden on anybody else.” “When I found out, the first thing I did was say a prayer to God that, you know, if I had to die, you know, I wanted my children to be grown,” said Muhammad (shown in photo to the right).