Texas: National Council of La Raza Conference Addresses AIDS Among Latinos

The National Council of La Raza on Tuesday in Austin, Texas, concluded its Annual Conference, one of the largest Latino conferences in the United States, with discussions of health issues affecting the Latino community, including HIV/AIDS, the Austin American-Statesman reports. Advocates, health workers and educators who attended the session discussed ways of stemming HIV transmission among Latinos in the United States. In 2001, 27.5 percent of HIV-positive people in Texas were Latino, according to state Department of Health statistics. Felipe Rocha, a field operations manager with the Texas Department of Health's Bureau of HIV and STD Prevention, said that many Latinos face "unique barriers" in accessing health care, including language and cultural differences, regional shortages of doctors and a lack of health insurance (Powell/Barrios, Austin American-Statesman, 7/16).

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