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HIV/AIDS Facts For American Indians

 

HIV/AIDS is on the rise among American Indians.

The number of AIDS cases is rising among Indian women.

In the past ten years the number of Indian AIDS cases has steadily increased from 322 cases in 1991 to 2,996 in 2004 (Centers for Disease Control).

HIV is contracted through:

  • sexual contact
  • sharing needles for drugs/tattoos with someone who has HIV
  • blood transfusion
  • pregnant women can pass HIV to their babies before/during birth and/or when they breast feed

HIV is NOT contracted through:

  • air
  • shaking hands with or hugging a person who has HIV,
  • toilet seats
  • insect bites
  • and sharing food/dishes with HIV infected person.

You can reduce your risk of contracting the HIV virus by:

  • using condoms (latex rubber)
  • not sharing needles used for drugs or tattoos
  • limiting your number of sex partners
  • abstaining from sex

There are currently NO funded HIV/AIDS services specifically targeting Indians in Los Angeles.

The following table shows a comparison between the five states with the most Native AIDS cases and those same states' portion of the overall Native population:

 

% of AI/AN Population 1995 Census Update TOP FIVE AI/AN AIDS CASE STATES % of AI/AN AIDS Cases through 1997
12% California 25%
13% Oklahoma 11%
10% Washington 7%
4% Arizona 4%
4% Alaska 4%

It is unfortunate that the inaccurate stereotype of AI/AN as predominantly geographically isolated rural/reservation residents was the second focus of the Reuters report. It is noteworthy that California, whose AI/AN population is over 90% urban and which has the second largest AI/AN population of all the states, has a percentage of AI/AN AIDS cases that is twice that of its percentage of the nation's AI/AN population. This could be due to several factors: the migration of Native people with AIDS into California from other states to benefit from its well developed AIDS care and social services system, or out of a desire for anonymity. It could also be the result of California's having been hit hard and early in the AIDS epidemic.

(Source: American Indian AIDS Council and National Native American AIDS Prevention Center)

 

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