St. Petersburg Times Examines HIV/AIDS Among African Americans in Florida, Nationwide

The St. Petersburg Times on Monday examined the "devastating toll" HIV/AIDS is having in African-American communities in Florida and nationwide. An estimated 2% of African Americans nationwide are HIV-positive, meaning they are 10 times as likely as whites to be HIV-positive. According to advocates, many African Americans do not know the disease is a "serious threat," and "[t]hose who do often are unwilling to talk about it," the Times reports. Phill Wilson, executive director of the Black AIDS Institute, said that HIV/AIDS "has not been part of our consciousness," adding, "The perception that AIDS is primarily, if not exclusively, a white gay disease persists to this day. As a result, traditional black institutions have been slow to respond. It gave the virus an opportunity to get out of control in our community" (Franklin/Greene, St. Petersburg Times, 3/14). The complete article is available online.