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A new study shows that African
Americans and less educated Americans have not seen the same improved survival
rates from new drug treatments as others, suggesting differences in access to
available treatments.
Edgar Simard, lead author and senior
epidemiologist at the American Cancer Society in Atlanta, says that although
“there have been substantial declines” in deaths from HIV, “not everyone has
benefitted equally from the drugs that have been available” in the last several
years.
The authors of the study noted that
while HIV dropped to the 24th leading cause of death for whites, it rose to the
ninth leading cause of death for blacks. Collecting data from 26 states, the
researchers analyzed HIV-attributed death rates for 91,307 white, black, and
Hispanic men and women between the ages of 25 and 64 years of age.
Although death rates for the poorest
black men fell by more than half, they are still higher than the rates that the
poorest white men began with in the 1990s. Overall, disparities between the
most and least educated individuals have widened, and the report highlights
black men and minority women—especially those who are poor—as the populations
that are most vulnerable to death from HIV.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
