HIV among African American woman in urban areas

Research and Hypothesis

The paper discusses HIV among African American woman in urban areas. The paper also mentions the fact that African American women, particularly those from low-income urban areas, constitute the largest percentage of AIDS cases among women. Although African American women are 12 percent of women in the Urban Areas, they account for more than one-half (55 percent) of AIDS cases among women reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Null Hypothesis

The percentage of HIV among African American woman in urban areas is larger than Rural Areas.

Alternative Hypothesis

The percentage of HIV among African American woman in urban areas is not larger than Rural Areas.Litrature Review

The meeting, HIV/AIDS and African American Women: A Consultation Supporting CDC's Heightened National Response to the HIV/AIDS Crisis among African Americans provided a forum to address gaps in prevention and HIV/AIDS infection for African American women. Health researchers, community-based organization leaders, and representatives from both healthcare and non-healthcare sectors took this opportunity to discuss and develop a variety of priorities and suggestions for HIV/AIDS prevention. Four focus areas were provided for meeting attendees to promote discussion and strategy development. The resulting list of priorities and suggestions for HIV/AIDS prevention may provide future steps for researchers, communities, and physicians to increase prevention and decrease infection rates. Novel, innovative, and participatory approaches are needed within and outside the public arena to decrease the gaps in HIV/AIDS prevention for African American women. Social support as used in this study refers to interpersonal transactions between individuals that foster positive adjustments when dealing with problems (Baumeister, Roy, & Leary, 1995). Stress as used in this article is based on Monat and Lazarus's (1991) transactional model. According to this framework, an individual is likely to experience stress when he or she evaluates an event as stressful, lacks coping strategies to deal with effects of the stress, and perceives the event to be potentially threatening or blocking toward some goal.

African American Women and HIV/AIDS

African American women, particularly those from low-income urban areas, constitute the largest percentage of AIDS cases among women. Although African American women are 12 percent of women in the Urban Areas, they account for more than one-half (55 percent) of AIDS cases among women reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 1999). Although there has been a decline in AIDS cases in other groups, the rate of HIV infection among African American women continues to increase (CDC, 1998). AIDS is the most cited reason for death among African American women between ages 25 and 44 (Dunbar, Mueller, Medina, & Wolf, 1998; Hackl, Somlai, Kelly, & Kalichman, 1997; Marcenko & Samost, 1999). In addition, once diagnosed, African American women do not survive as long as white women (Hernandez & Smith, 1991).

A number of studies have revealed significant health disparities among US populations by race/ethnicity, gender and socioeconomic status. Eliminating these inequalities which is the corner-stone of the Healthy People 2010 requires new approaches, knowledge and attitudes about the determinants of ...