AIDS is the Leading Cause of Death for Young African-American Women

A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that the leading cause of African-American women between the ages of 25-34 is AIDS. The information was based on data collected during 2004 and is shocking the medical community.

March 10 is National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, and it looks like more attention needs to be focused on this day in order to slow down the rate of death caused by this preventable disease. Women in particular need to move beyond the mentality that it “Will never happen to me,” as women are far more likely to contract the disease then men. Women that do not use drugs and that have sex exclusively with other women, however, have a far lower incidence of AIDS. Nonetheless, 127,150 women in the United States are currently living with the disease – 64% of which are African-American women.

But, young women aren’t the only group being affected by the disease. In fact, senior citizens are starting to see an increase in AIDS cases. This is thought to be partly because of the introduction and popularity of drugs such Viagra and Cialis. Still, the African-American female population remains the biggest concern. In fact, in 2005, the rate of African-American women being diagnosed with the disease was roughly 24 times the rate of white women and four times the rate of Hispanic women.