Latinos face increase in HIV/AIDS

Latino populations face increase in HIV/AIDS
Three-day training will promote advocacy
Sarah Campbell Staff Writer February 4, 2009

When it comes to HIV/AIDs, Latinos are the second most disproportionately affected population in North Carolina and the nation, according to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

Data from the department also reports that Latino men are twice as likely as white men to contract AIDS, while Latino women are four times as likely to have the virus.

In order to cultivate advocacy through leadership, The Association of Mexicans in North Carolina and the U.S-Mexico Board Health Association have joined forces to bring "ENLACES: Fostering Effective Latino Participation in HIV Prevention Community Planning" to eastern North Carolina.

Prevention strategies and awareness will be the primary focus of the three-day training session, which will be conducted in Spanish Friday through Sunday in Greenville.

"The ENLACES training comes to North Carolina at a very strategic time," Juvencio Rocha Peralta, AMEXCAN president, said. "At this time, there is little or no involvement of Latinos in North Carolina's Statewide Prevention Planning group, the place where HIV priorities and resource allocations are determined.

About 35 people will gather in Greenville at the Bernstein Community Health Center beginning Friday to take part in the training, the first of its kind to be held in eastern N.C.

"A lot of these people are already in leadership roles or work for local health departments and centers," Rocha Peralta said. "One of the overall goals is to train these individuals so that they can take this information back to their local communities."

The training is funded by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention as part of its HIV Prevention Community Planning, a process set up to increase community involvement.

"It is crucial that we educate the Latino community of its role and responsibility in the state's community process so that effective HIV prevention activities for Latinos can be funded so that we can start to see a decrease in new cases," Rocha Peralta said.

According to the CDC, the most common methods of transmission among Latina women and men living with HIV/AIDS were high-risk heterosexual contact and injection drug use.

For Latino men living with HIV/AIDs, the CDC also reports sexual contact with other men as a widespread form of transmission.

"There is stigma within the Latino community, they don't want to talk about HIV and AIDS, and I think it's something that as a community we need to be responsible about," Rocha Peralta said. "This (training) is a way that we can help facilitate that."

The training session will provide leaders the opportunity to develop networks and improve community planning groups. The sessions are open to the public; anyone interested in participating should call Rocha Peralta at (252) 258-9967 to register.

"It doesn't take one person, it doesn't take one agency, it takes the entire community," Rocha Peralta said.

Sarah Campbell can be reached at (252) 559-1076 or scampbell@freedomenc.com.

ENLACES training goals
-Strengthen and support Latino leadership to enable participation
-Increase participants' group process skills
-Increase knowledge and advocacy for effective prevention planning
-Develop and support Latino resource networks
-Enhance the community planning group