More than 50 percent of Hispanics do not know their HIV status, said Catalina Sol, HIV/AIDS program director for La Clinica del Pueblo, at a discussion held Monday in honor of National Latino AIDS Awareness Day.
HIV/AIDS is considered an invisible epidemic in the Hispanic community because Hispanics are being diagnosed with HIV and AIDS at the same time because they are not getting diagnosed soon enough, Sol said.
Hispanics account for 19 percent of all AIDS cases in the United States since the start of the AIDS epidemic, according to information on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Web site.
"Despite the fact that people are concerned with the epidemic in theory, very few people are willing to step forward due to stigmatism," Sol said.
Culture is also a barrier in Hispanics getting tested and treated for HIV/AIDS, according to Tanya Gonzalez, Latino outreach and Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative project coordinator for Advocates for Youth.
Having someone who speaks Spanish in public-health centers is not enough because they need to understand the culture due to contraception taboos and gender roles, Gonzalez said.
"We have to have a greater effort to make [testing] culturally appropriate," she said.
Along with culture, the emphasis on family and maintaining a job results in Hispanics not focusing on their own health but more on the well-being and survival of their family, according to James Albino, assistant director for Government Relations and Public Policy for the National Minority AIDS Council.
"For many migrant communities, it is a priority to work for your family, to do your job," he said. "It is a matter of survival to do all these things; getting yourself treated just is not a priority."
Additionally, there was a 15 percent undercount of Hispanics in the 2000 U.S. Census, which has affected the funds allocated to Hispanic needs, according to Sol.
All levels of government need to support the Hispanic community to ensure it gets the funds it needs, Albino said.
"Generally speaking, we are invisible when the decisions are being made," he said. "The lack of leadership poses an enormous problem. We need to step forward right now."
The spreading of this information was a goal of the event, said Derrick Milburn, co-director of LASO and a senior in the School of Public Affairs.
Many AU students are not aware of the HIV/AIDS issues facing the Hispanic community because the school has a majority white population, according to Isel Galvan, publicity chair for LASO and a sophomore in the School of Communication. Galvan is also the public relations coordinator for The Eagle.
Five percent of AU's 11,883 undergraduate and graduate students are considered Hispanic, while 56 percent are considered Caucasian, according to statistics on the AU Admissions Web site.
"If people are interested [in these issues], they should reach out to Latin communities on campus like LASO and the Office of Multicultural Affairs that educate on the Latino community," Galvan said.
LASO and Women's Initiative sponsored the discussion in Mary Graydon Center.
