HIV Diagnoses Among Men in New Orleans Growing, Large Increases Reported Among Blacks

HIV diagnoses among all men in Louisiana declined from 1997 to 2006, but increased in 2007 and 2008 -- diagnoses in the New Orleans metropolitan area alone increased by 9 percent from 2007 to 2008, according to the Louisiana Office of Public Health the New Orleans Times Picayune reports. Of particular concern are the increases among black men in New Orleans. Among black men of all ages, new HIV diagnoses increased by 4 percent from 2007 to 2008, but increased 23 percent for black men age 20 to 24 and 30 percent for those age 45 to 54. The reasons behind the findings are "complex", according to the Times Picayune. Risky sexual behavior, a "declining sense of concern among young people about AIDS and the stubborn cultural stigma of homosexuality in the black community are all believed to be factors," the Times Picayune reports (Sandoval-Griffin, New Orleans Times Picayune, 6/27).

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