- The stigma of HIV and homosexuality, which may keep black MSM from using HIV prevention services;
- Limited access to healthcare, HIV testing, and HIV treatment;
- Underestimated personal risk for HIV.
Blacks are disproportionately affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Black men have the highest HIV infection rates of any group by race and sex — more than 6 times that of white men. Black women have a new HIV infection rate 15 times that of white women. Latinos are another group that is disproportionately affected by HIV. Hispanic men represented 79% of new HIV infections among Hispanics. Gao Shicheng, a HIV specialist in Zhongnan Hospital, said that HIV/AIDS has started to infect middle-aged and elderly Chinese men who have little or no AIDS prevention knowledge. Gao said this year alone he had diagnosed two senior men with HIV. China is fighting a hard battle to contain the spread of HIV/AIDS. “What I feared, and what a lot of people with HIV fear, is what people may think. People with HIV experience five to 10 times more depression than mainstream society,” he says. The child was born three years ago and he’s HIV-negative. Being diagnosed HIV-positive doesn’t mean you can’t do anything normal people can do.” “HIV has become somewhat invisible. Although the questioning seemed inappropriate, Goulding disclosed his HIV status.