EFE News Service Examines HIV/AIDS Among Latino Residents in New York City's Bronx

EFE News Service on Tuesday examined how HIV/AIDS has had a particularly "devastating" impact on the large Latino population living in the New York City borough of the Bronx. About 16.6% of New York City residents live in the Bronx, but nearly 25% of HIV-positive people in the city live in the borough, including almost 60% of the city's HIV-positive Latinos. To address the epidemic, about 400 civil and religious organizations, hospitals and groups of HIV-positive people have formed the Attention Network for AIDS in the Bronx, which aims to increase HIV/AIDS awareness and educate the Latino community about how to prevent the virus. About 48% of HIV-positive Latinos discover they are infected after the disease is advanced and treatment is less effective, according to the New York City-based Latino Commission on AIDS, a national and regional organization dedicated to improving the health of Latino communities. Latinos in the U.S. account for 14% of the population but 20% of the HIV cases in the country (Paz, EFE News Service, 10/18).

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