Alarming Rise In AIDS Cases In Latino Community

AIDS Cases See A Rise Among Latinos
A woman gets her face painted with a red ribbon during an awareness campaign to mark World AIDS Day in downtown Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012. (AP Photo/Lai Seng Sin)
A woman gets her face painted with a red ribbon during an awareness campaign to mark World AIDS Day in downtown Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012. (AP Photo/Lai Seng Sin)

A rise in AIDS cases in New York City’s immigrant community has prompted city officials to call it a “public health failure.”

But New York, which saw a 4 percent rise in AIDS cases among foreign-born Latinos in three years, to 31 percent, is not alone in dealing with a growing crisis in the Latino community – and health officials are scrambling to figure how to solve the problem.

Hispanics represent just 16 percent of the U.S. population yet account for 20 percent of total new HIV infections. According to a recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, Hispanics have the highest rate of new AIDS cases in the country.

And the reason for the increase, according to experts, is simple: Latinos are not getting tested.

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