What's happening in your community

African Americans & HIV/AIDS

	(800) FLA-AIDS Florida's hotline Info, referrals, and counseling Text your ZIP code to 477493 for HIV test sites near you

Of all racial and ethnic groups in the United States, HIV and AIDS have hit African Americans the hardest. The reasons are not directly related to race or ethnicity, but rather to some of the barriers faced by many African Americans. These barriers can include poverty (being poor), sexually transmitted diseases, and stigma (negative attitudes, beliefs, and actions directed at people living with HIV/AIDS or directed at people who do things that might put them at risk for HIV).

Centers for Disease Control & Prevention

Know Your Risk

The Florida Department of Health estimates that although black communities (including people from the Caribbean, Europe, and Africa) comprise about 14% of Florida's adult population, they represented around 50% of the HIV and AIDS cases reported in 2005. 

• What African Americans Can Do  Risky Behaviors & How to Avoid them  [CDC]

RESOURCES & MORE INFORMATION:

• HIV/AIDS and African Americans   Resources, Links, Fact Sheets, Videos [CDC]
• WE>AIDS  Resources, Links, Videos and more
• We Make the Change   Information, resources, articles, community
• SOS (Sistas Organizing to Survive)   An initiative of We Make the Change
•   Fact Sheet:  Blacks and HIV/AIDS [FL DOH]
•   "Silence is Death: The Crisis of HIV/AIDS in Florida's Black Communities" [FL DOH]