Letter From the Editor

Dear Readers,

This issue's cover story begins with a shocking question: "Which U.S. city has more Latinos living with AIDS: Los Angeles, New York City, Miami, or San Juan?" The article goes on to explain that the troubling answer is that New York City has registered more AIDS cases among Latinos than all of those heavily Latino cities combined.

At Body Positive, we have had a commitment to the Latino community for over fifteen years through many activities and venues, especially the publication of our Spanish-language magazine SIDAahora. But with this issue of Body Positive magazine, we wanted to reach the English-speaking community with information about the state of HIV/AIDS among Latinos in New York City and more broadly throughout Latin America.

In our first article, frequent contributor José-María Medellín, himself an immigrant from Mexico, provides profiles of a diverse array of individuals and agencies who reflect the experience of Latinos with HIV in the boroughs of New York. Human rights activist Richard Stern shares a "personal memoir" about AIDS on the island of Cuba based on his own recent visit there. Rounding out the issue theme is a brief profile of the group that Stern leads, the Agua Buena Human Rights Association, which promotes HIV treatment access throughout Latin America.

With Latinos being the fastest growing minority in the United States -- and with New York being one of the major destinations for immigrants from throughout the world -- the need for targeted services to Latinos is more urgent than ever. We hope that this issue contributes to raising awareness about some of the concerns facing and the services available to Latinos living with HIV/AIDS in New York City.