Posted on October 6, 2011

HIV/AIDS Infection Rate Among African American Women Alarmingly High in St. Louis

KMOV (St. Louis), October 4, 2011

More than 5,000 people in the St. Louis region are living with HIV/AIDS. The rate of the disease is especially high among African Americans and African American women.

In 2010, 300 new HIV/AIDS cases came up in the St. Louis area, according to the state health department. Almost two-thirds of those cases were among African Americans. But among women, African Americans accounted for 86 percent of new cases.

Washington University’s Tawnya Brown has been dealing with this issue for more than a decade. She says multiple partners complicated the problem, and that many black women have trouble convincing their mates to use protection.

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