Racial Divide Extends to Health of South Carolinians

In South Carolina, a state whose history has been defined along the line between black and white, there is still a racial division in health. AIDS is one of the more vivid examples. A relatively small, poor, rural state, South Carolina ranks eighth in the nation in the rate of AIDS cases. Two-thirds of those with AIDS are black, even though the state population is only about one-third black.

The health divide is not limited only to AIDS, however. Blacks have shorter life expectancies and higher infant mortality rates; are 60 percent more likely than whites to die of strokes; and have a higher cancer risk than whites. Nor is the health divide simply a black and white issue. South Carolina's growing Hispanic and American Indian communities also have higher percentages of cancer, AIDS and diabetes than whites.

About 15 percent of South Carolinians live in poverty, according to the latest census figures, and poverty can make people invisible in the health care system, said Carmen Julious, executive director of Palmetto AIDS Life Support Services. "We really kind of ignored women, people of color and youth. Those are the groups you're seeing high rates in now," she said.

Harry Kendrick, an African-American who dropped out of medical school after learning, 15 years ago, that he was HIV-positive, has formed an advocacy group to fight the disease. Kendrick spends his days walking the streets of Charleston's predominantly black east side, visiting grocery stores, clubs and laundries, where he warns poor teens, drug users and prostitutes about the dangers of AIDS. "We need to stop the spread of AIDS," Kendrick said. "If not, we're going to lose an entire generation."

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