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.

Of all races/ethnicities, AI/AN had the highest percentages of diagnosed HIV infections due to injection drug use. (Centers for Disease Control).

By the end of 2010, an estimated 1,945 AI/AN with an AIDS diagnosis had died in the United States. In 2010, HIV infection was the ninth leading cause of death among AI/AN aged 25 to 34. (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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