Arizona: Health Groups Fight STDs Among Valley Hispanics

The Phoenix-based Concilio Latino de Salud (Latino Health Council) is partnering with local agencies to offer HIV/STD screenings, treatment and education, and other public-health services to the city's residents, especially Latinos. Noé Vargas, a program manager with the nonprofit, said Concilio targets Latinos because of all ethnic groups, they are the least likely to have health insurance. No one is turned away because of ethnicity, however.

A reluctance to discuss sex education with children and macho attitudes that disdain condom use have contributed to a growing number of STD cases among Latinos, said Vargas. "STDs is not a topic Latino parents feel comfortable talking about with their kids. Latino men really object to wearing condoms. When you combine these two things it's a recipe for disaster," he explained.

In 2004, more than 14,260 cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis were recorded in Maricopa County. More than 41 percent of those cases, almost 5,900, were among Latinos.

Immigrant men, who often come to work in the United States without their families, are vulnerable because the loneliness they feel can lead to high-risk behaviors, said Vargas.

In addition, undocumented immigrants fear that accessing public health benefits will result in their being deported, Vargas said. "They're very afraid even though public-health services are funded by the sales taxes that they pay. They're as entitled as anyone to those public services," he noted.

The county Department of Public Health, which serves about 270,000 of Maricopa's 3.5 million residents, offers free or low-cost STD/HIV testing and treatment at its 1645 E. Roosevelt St. location in downtown Phoenix.

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