High HIV Infection Rates for North Carolina's Hispanic Community

Marina Giovannelli

Hispanics are becoming infected with HIV four times more often than whites, according to North Carolina's Department of Health and Human Services.

The department also says higher infection rates for Hispanics may stem from language barriers and cultural differences like machismo, which may explain some men's reluctance to use condoms.

Holly Watkins with the North Carolina division of public health says tough working conditions for immigrants are also a factor.

"I think sometimes people in those situations can get very lonely, again, they are missing their families, and they look for human contact, and sometimes that means going to a commercial sex worker, or someone else they may be familiar with to try and connect," says Watkins.

Watkins adds the AIDS awareness day aims to curb the increased number of infections through testing, educating, and treating the region's Hispanic community.

"We're seeing a lot of people, members of the Latino community included, going into their emergency departments at their local hospitals with the late stages of AIDS, and we don't want to see that happening," says Watkins.

North Carolina's health department estimates 32,000 people are living with HIV/AIDS in the state, and about eight percent of those newly infected are Hispanic.