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By JAMES WITHERS
Friday, November 25, 2005
The Centers for Disease Control released last week statistics on new HIV diagnoses,
between 2001 to 2004, that for the first time included New York State. According
to the report, the Empire State accounts for more than 20 percent of all new
diagnoses reported between 2001 and 2004.
“We often say every epidemic is local. We have many sub-epidemics going
on,” said Judy Sackoff, the director of surveillance for the city’s
Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
According to figures put out by DOHMH last month, in 2004 approximately 3,700
New Yorkers were diagnosed with HIV, a decline of 11 percent from the previous
year. The largest decrease was in Hispanic women at 25 percent, and white men
declined by 14. In the category termed “MSM,” men who have sex with
men, city numbers were stable but once race was factored in the figures told
a more complicated story.
“Among black MSMs, we saw a significant increase, while in white MSMs
there was a decline and Latino MSMs were relatively flat,” Sackoff said.
These trends followed what health officials and providers expected.
“It is not news to New York City that HIV infection rates are higher
in black MSMs than white MSMs and they have not gone down,” said Lucia
Torian, director of HIV epidemiology for DOHMH.
No one knows why there is this racial disparity and there are no studies that
offer road maps to solutions.
“We still don’t have a handle on why this is so,” said Darrell
Wheeler, a professor at the Hunter College School of Social Work. “Any
investigator or health practitioner who speaks about this knows that we have
a lot of work to do.”
The city is presently involved in a study sponsored by the CDC that is examining
the sexual habits and lives of black and Latino men. Researchers are hoping
the work, which will look at 500 men, will be completed by March of 2006 and
its information disseminated in the spring.
Chris Murrill, DOHMH’s director of research, said this study would give
a “comprehensive picture” of how HIV is being transmitted differently
among racial groups.
Gary English, executive director People of Color in Crisis, thinks that a quarter
century into the epidemic it is time to know how it affects different populations
and wonders what the response would be if the situation were different.
“If this were middle class white men we would not have these numbers,”
English said.
He also wondered why the city worked hard on sending the clarion call about
the hazards of crystal meth and HIV transmission — an education effort
he approves of — but did not have same urgency about black HIV transmission.
“I would like to know what the city Department of Health is doing with
this,” English said. “Has the commissioner of health met with the
black community to come up with some strategies?”
English’s organization was one of the sponsors two weeks ago of a forum
that looked at the CDC report issued over the summer that said 46 percent of
black gay men are infected with HIV. Ronald Johnson, associate executive director
of Gay Men’s Health Crisis, wonders where is the media with such numbers,
especially considering how last February the press made the possible HIV “super
strain” top fold news.
“There has been scant media attention and that is almost as disturbing
as the data itself,” Johnson said. “It boggles the mind. Half of
the population is infected and this should have been a reason to have an emergency
call.”
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