Blacks bear brunt of AIDS in developed nations

TORONTO, Aug 17 (Reuters) HIV infections are rising in black men and women living in developed nations that have otherwise made strides against the disease, said participants at the 16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto.

''AIDS in America is a black disease no matter how you look at it, by gender or sexual orientation or age or socio-economic class or region in the country in which you live,'' said Phil Wilson, executive director of the Black AIDS Institute, at a press conference on Monday.

''Black people bear the brunt of this epidemic.'' People of African and Caribbean descent -- particularly heterosexual women and men who have sex with men -- have higher HIV infection rates than the overall population in developed countries like Canada and the United States, said conference participants.

Blacks make up 13 per cent of the United States population, but represent an estimated 42 per cent of people living with HIV/AIDS.

Ontarians of African and Caribbean descent make up less than five percent of the population but account for 14 per cent of those with HIV/AIDS and 19.5 per cent of new infections in 2004 in Ontario, a rise of 82 per cent in five years. Their HIV infection rate is almost 13 times the overall rate.

AIDS is the leading cause of death for African American women aged 25 to 34, and in 2003, 60 per cent of all American females living with HIV/AIDS were black. African American women make up 68 per cent of new HIV cases in the US.

''If we, as black women, in America do not decide today and every day that AIDS is our face and fight, in 2020 there'll be no black women in America,'' said Grazell Howard, first vice president of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women.

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