By Dianne Anderson

Maybe it’s all those years of laxity around the dangers of unprotected sex, or maybe it’s just that information overload has made people immune to the message of HIV/AIDS. Unfortunately, they are not becoming immune to the disease.

Just when everyone felt it was safe to play, recent data shows HIV/AIDS is on the rise again. It’s not looking very good for people of color.

As striking as the numbers are, Barbara Lohman, with the AIDS Family Services, said the publicity around the disease isn’t as urgent when it first surfaced.

“Back then, it seemed like a death sentence for a number of years before they started coming out with antiviral drugs. I think one day it’s possible that there will be an [effective] vaccine. That’s the hope,” she said.

Until then, the Office of Minority Health shows that while African Americans only comprise roughly 13% of the U.S. population, at last count they represented 49% of HIV/AIDS cases. Black males made up seven times the AIDS rate as white males. Black females comprised 22 times the AIDS rate as white females. Black men were nine times more likely to die from the disease than white men, and black women were over 20 times more likely to die from HIV than white women.

Part of the problem, Lohman said, is that some people believe there’s a cure for AIDS, according to a public opinion poll last year by Kaiser Family Foundation.

“Because the medications are so effective, they just assume, if I get it, I’ll be fine. There’s misconceptions. I think some people feel there’s a vaccine, it’s been cured,” she said.

True, she has seen clients who have survived since that first wave of retro-viral drugs in the late 1980s. Some who have lived with the disease for 20 years, and while they are susceptible to sickness, medications are helping them live longer.

But that only works if they can get the medication.

Still suffering from last year’s $85 million budget cuts, many California AIDS care groups are still struggling to keep those sickest with the disease in line to receive medical treatment and extra social services, like food and shelter.

On May 22, an estimated 5,000 walkers from all walks of life will come together at the Great Park in Irvine to raise big money to make that happen. So far, they have $143,000 down, and about $500,000 left to go.

She’s calling on everyone to come out to show support through walking, and not to forget their piggy banks for the fundraiser.

AFS receives funding from several areas, including individual donors, corporations and foundations. Their agency provides contracted services with money that flows down to the county from the state and sometimes federal dollars.

“That’s where many of our related agencies took a hit this year when that money was cut. We had to find other sources,” she said. “It’s very challenging, there’s no doubt.”

Nationwide, infection is highest for African Americans, representing the fourth leading cause of death in ages 25 to 44, according to the Center for Disease Control. The disease is even more devastating for black gay males, which the Center finds is the main mode of transmission for black men living with HIV/AIDS, followed by injection drug use and high risk sexual contact with women.

Lohman said their organization is also very concerned about the increased Latino population, comprising about 40 percent of all new HIV/AIDS cases in the county. Latinas especially are vulnerable, with about one-fourth of all new cases among Latina wives infected by their husbands.

But for women, both black and Latina, it’s usually straight sex with men that is responsible for the transmission.

The $650,000 they hope to raise will be shared among nine HIV/AIDS organizations countywide to provide services to AIDS men, women and children and the family members of those infected. Funding will help with medical case management, housing assistance, mental health counseling, transportation to medical appointments, and nutrition programs.

In Orange County, they are seeing an increase in the new numbers of AIDS, she said. Nationwide, the reported numbers are suspected to be far below the reality of those actually infected.

“The thing that’s scary is that the estimate is that as many as a third of the people that have it don’t even know they have it,” she said.

For more information, see http://www.aidswalkorangecounty.com/