Race Matters: Race, Poverty and AIDS in Black America

Today the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [6] (CDC) released a study titled Communities in Crisis: Is There a Generalized HIV Epidemic in Impoverished Urban Areas of the United States. The study is the third in a series of the CDC's rotating surveillance reports conducted to better understand America's HIV epidemic. Previous studies looked at HIV among gay and bisexual men (MSM) and intravenous drug users (IDUs). This research included Black, Latino and White (non-IDU) heterosexuals in 23 cities, living in neighborhoods disproportionately impacted by both poverty and HIV. Seventy-seven percent of the participants were Black, 15 percent were Hispanic, 4 percent were White and 3 percent represented other races.