AIDS mortality rate still high among blacks

The Bayard Rustin Mobilization Project. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

LOS ANGELES — A new study shows that, despite drops in the overall mortality rates among those infected by HIV, the disease still ranks as the ninth biggest killer among African Americans.

The study published in The Archives of Internal Medicine this month shows a 93 percent drop from 1993 to 2007 in the HIV mortality rate for white American men, and an 88 percent drop for white women. However, less educated African-American men are 26 times more likely to die of an HIV-related illness if infected than their white counterparts.

“The time has come for a major commitment of resources to address these shameful disparities in HIV outcomes in the United States,” writes Dr William Cunningham of the UCLA Medical School in his editorial accompanying the study, according to the organization AidsMap. “There continue to be important disparities among minority populations in the United States that deserve greater attention than they have received thus far.”