Men are Driving The HIV Epidemic

That's right, I said it: its men who are driving this epidemic. For all of the talk about the disproportionate impact of HIV on minority women, who do we think are infecting them: men. By the way, the fastest growing population being infected with HIV is not women; its young black men who have sex with men (MSM) between the ages of 13-29. Overall, there are 30,000 new HIV infections annually among MSM. Now before you go into the "AIDS is a gay disease mode," we must remember that gay and bisexual men probably make up a small percentage of men overall. We have to stop focusing so much on labeling people: "gay," "straight," "down-low," etc.. Many people are resistant to accepting certain labels. A man who primarily has sex with women but occasionally also has sex with men, may consider himself straight. Likewise, the incarcerated man who see his sex with another man in prison, a partner who by the way, may be officially labeled in the prison as a "b***h," therefore making it more socially acceptable. The focus has to be on responsibility such as: knowing one's HIV status; prompt diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted infections and last but not least; safe and safer sex. So for the men reading this, the 'ball's in your court.' Man-up!

Adolescent Hopelessness and HIV

A new report published in Healthday News on Jun 29, 2009, has found that almost 15 percent of American adolescents believe that they will die before age 35, a belief that may be strongly linked to unsafe behavior. Greater than one in seven youths have a pessimistic view about their future mortality and are more likely to take risks. The findings, published in the July issue of Pediatrics, are based on a three-year study of attitudes and behaviors among 20,594 teens from the 7th through 12th grades. The teens were asked about their views on personal mortality as it related to behaviors such as attempting suicide, using illegal drugs, sustaining fight-related injuries that required medical care, engaging in unprotected sex, being arrested by the police and contracting HIV or AIDS. Other important findings included:
*Race and wealth were important variables. While 10 percent of
white teens expressed this pessimism, 21 percent of Hispanic teens and 26
percent of African American youth harbored this fatalistic view.
*Adolescents who predicted a short lifespan were more likely to engage in risky
behavior, and teens who engaged in risky behavior (throughout the first year of the
study) "were more likely to develop a pessimistic view of their future."

Clearly, more needs to be done to both assess these attitudes early on, especially for minority and low income children, and to make every effort to develop programs that help to instill a sense of optimism and hope. Without this new focus, we will continue to raise a generation of children who feel that "they have nothing to lose."