Agencies across the Federal government are observing National Latino AIDS Awareness Day (NLAAD) today, October 15th. This week we've heard from Federal and community leaders about the importance of NLAAD and this year's theme, Save a Life. It might be your own. Get tested for HIV. According to the CDC, the rate of new AIDS diagnoses among Latino men is three times that of white men, and the rate among Latinas is five times that of white women. At AIDS.gov, we encourage increased awareness, testing and linkages to care for the Hispanic/Latino community. Here's a summary of our NLAAD blog posts.
- National Latino AIDS Awareness Day: Save a life. It might be your own. Get tested for HIV
Guest post by Melissa Faith Ramírez, Director, National Latino AIDS Awareness Day (October 15) - Commemorating National Latino AIDS Awareness Day
By James Albino, Senior Program Manager, Office of National AIDS Policy. Cross-posted from the Office of National AIDS Policy Blog (October 15) - National Latino AIDS Awareness Day
By Kevin Fenton, M.D., Ph.D., FFPH, Director, National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention. Cross-posted from Health Protection, Perspectives Blog (October 14) - National Latino AIDS Awareness Day
By Howard K. Koh, M.D., M.P.H, Assistant Secretary for Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (October 13) - James Albino on the NHAS and the Latino Community
By Miguel Gomez, AIDS.gov Director (October 13) - NIH Statement on National Latino AIDS Awareness Day from Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., NIAID Director (October 12)
- Latino Community Leaders Meet in Washington D.C. to Talk about HIV
By Miguel Gomez, AIDS.gov Director (October 5)
I think that education is the key. Anything that can be done to make people understand how important it is to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS is a really worth while activity. Keep up the great work, and keep educating people on the risk of AIDS. I think most people simply believe that it can’t happen to them. Obviously, that is not true.
Education is extremely important of how the disease is spread. We need to also teach that getting tested is equally as important. People have no idea how many times AIDS is transmitted because their partner didn’t know they were infected!
I have even heard of wives getting HIV/AIDS from their husbands and vice versa, because they were not faithful. I would imagine that a large percentage of cases are transmitted unintentionally because the person has no idea that they are infected. I, however, have heard the occasional story of a person who is angry about being infected and tries to infect others intentionally. That is one more reason to be careful and always use protection during sexual activity, and to get tested regularly.