Unique issues complicating life for Latinos living with HIV/AIDS
By Kate Kozeniewski
© 2007 Kate Kozeniewski

Latinos are often an overlooked group of people in discussions about HIV. Nineteen percent of people in the U.S. living with HIV/AIDS are Latinos. In Philadelphia, with a community of Latinos numbering over 130,000 strong, HIV is having a large impact. One community member recently told me, “Latino communities are facing alarmingly disproportionate HIV infection rates, while federal funding is being dramatically cut to serve our communities. Latino communities have long faced stigma, fear and a lack of access to quality health insurance, education, realistic HIV prevention tools and resources, and competent translation services.”

One of the primary concerns that community members in Philadelphia have is the need for comprehensive statistics of Latinos in Philadelphia living with HIV/AIDS. Without an accurate number of how many people this is affecting, it is hard to convince others of the extent of the problem. Nationally, HIV disproportionately impacts Latinos and we can assume this is true for Philadelphia as well.

Service providers and activists alike point out the difficulty of connecting undocumented Latinos to HIV social services and medical care. One service provider explained, “Fear of deportation is always a factor in getting tested and seeking out care.” A local activist, who has a more straightforward way of looking at this, said, “No doubt people will be infected and not seek treatment until they are hospitalized near death due to fear of being deported or jailed.”

The Latino community recently suffered an additional hit: the cut of funding for interpretation for HIV services. An AIDS activist in the Latino communities of Philadelphia described it this way: “Latino individuals are getting inferior services because they don’t speak English and are not aware what is going on in the AIDS community. They are the last to know and by that time is too late.” A service provider in North Philadelphia stated, “The loss of interpretation funding is critical. Lack of properly trained interpreters puts a lot of the responsibility onto providers, meshing our roles and making it more difficult for us to do our jobs as advocates. It also increases the likelihood that people will not seek our services.”

HIV services are also in trouble in Puerto Rico. According to a recent Housing Works press release, “Audit after audit of Ryan White CARE Act expenditures in Puerto Rico have found mismanagement, fraud and failure to provide basic lifesaving care. Many people have no access to AIDS medications, many AIDS service organizations have curtailed or shut down services, and many employees of AIDS-services organizations have gone months without pay.”

To sum up, a local activist had these inspiring words: “We Latinos, all we want is respect and to be treated like human beings; we bleed like everyone else. We are dying, more and more each day. We cannot sit back and let this happen.” We should all take these words to heart.

For more information on the AIDS crisis in Puerto Rico and how to get involved, visit: http://unidosdandolecaraalsida.homestead.com. To get involved in securing equal access to services for Latinos in Philadelphia, attend an ACT UP meeting at 6 p.m. Mondays at the Church of St. Luke and the Epiphany, 330 S. 13th St.

Some Spanish-speaking service providers in Philadelphia include ActionAIDS, (215) 981-0088; AIDS Activities Coordinating Office, (215) 685-5600; APM, (267) 296-7200; Congreso de Latinos Unidos, (215) 763-8870; GALAEI (215) 851-1822; and Maria de los Santos Health Center, (215) 291-2500.

Kate Kozeniewski is a case management coordinator at ActionAIDS.