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July 2008 All Articles

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The CDC’s Kevin Fenton on HIV Empowerment

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, African-Americans account for roughly more than 1 million people living with HIV -- half of all U.S. cases -- while only representing 13 percent of the general population. Dr. Kevin Fenton is director of the CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention. Here’s what he has to say about what we can do to live healthier lives in the age of HIV/AIDS.

Q. In what ways can we become empowered by knowing our HIV status?

A. “Knowing your HIV status empowers you to help prevent the spread of the disease. If you are infected, you can take steps to protect your health and that of your partners as well as seek life-extending medical treatment. People who learn they are not infected can take steps to help ensure they remain uninfected.

There are about 250,000 people nationwide who do not know they are HIV-positive, and about half the people living with HIV are African-American.”

Q. Are organizations reaching out to African American men and others to get tested?

A. “Organizers around the country for National HIV Testing Day (June 27) have distributed information about HIV/AIDS, testing sites and have targeted black and Latino populations, which are most at risk of contracting the virus.”

Q. Are African Americans being affected across all the high-risk areas for transmission of the disease?

A. “There are black Americans in all of the transmission risk populations -- drug users, bisexual and gay communities, as well as high-levels of unprotected heterosexual sex -- the impact on the black community is especially serious. While black Americans and Hispanics each represent about 13 percent of the population, black people account for almost half of new HIV diagnoses.”

Q. What have you found in your research are the main factors for spread of HIV?

A. “The nexus between poverty, access to drugs, the stigma of HIV -- which discourages reporting -- drug use and unprotected sex all serve to increase the rate of HIV transmission among African-Americans.”

Q. Is it true that Black men are being hit hardest by the disease?

A. “According to the CDC, African American men have the highest rate of HIV contraction in the country. In 2005, the rate of HIV diagnosis among black men was nearly seven times higher than that of white men. Black gay and bisexual men represented more than half of all diagnoses.”

Q. What does the forecast for the future hold?

A. "There is a great deal of work to be done," Fenton wrote in a statement. "But we are also encouraged by hopeful signs in recent years, from dramatic reductions in the number of babies born with HIV to evidence of reductions in new HIV infections among African-American women."

To find out more about HIV/AIDS and where you can receive a confidential HIV test, visit HYPERLINK "http://www.hivtest.org/"www.hivtest.org or call 800-CDC-INFO.