10.12.07 - HIV/AIDS and Bay Area Latinos

San Francisco (October 12, 2007) – The San Francisco AIDS Foundation will observe National Latino AIDS Awareness Day by expanding the Spanish-language services it currently provides, extending information and referrals on the California AIDS Hotline, which the Foundation has operated since 1982.  On Monday, October 15, a cadre of specially trained Spanish-speaking volunteers above normal volunteer staffing will answer the Hotline, providing a greater number of counselors to deliver information about HIV testing and treatment as well as emotional support to the state’s Latino community.

Although HIV/AIDS affects every ethnic group in the United States, a disproportionate number of HIV infections occurs in the Latino community. According to the Centers for Disease Control, Latinos comprise 14 percent of the U.S. population but represent one-fifth of HIV/AIDS cases.  
Education and prevention services provided for Spanish-speaking populations have not kept up with the rate of new infections, according to the Foundation, nor are the available services adequately publicized in the communities that need them.  In the Bay Area, this problem is compounded by the stigma that clings to HIV and AIDS, frustrating efforts to promote prevention resources among Spanish-speakers and to talk openly about staying safe.

“Our clients living with HIV are among the bravest people I’ve ever known,” said Jorge Zepeda, who coordinates El Grupo, the nation’s oldest support group for Latinos living with HIV and their families. “Many of them face tremendous obstacles disclosing their HIV status and suffer because of the lack of information about HIV services available in their communities.”

The Foundation has coordinated aggressive media outreach for the Spanish-language AIDS Hotline, working with Univision, TV Azteca, El Mensajero and Impacto!!, the Spanish-language magazine focused on HIV/AIDS, among others. With the goal of increasing calls by 200 percent on October 15, the Foundation hopes to build state-wide knowledge of Hotline services for Spanish-speakers well beyond this national day of awareness.

“HIV deeply affects Spanish-speaking communities in the United States.  But culturally- and linguistically-competent services are rarely adequate to meet the need,” said Mark Cloutier, the Foundation’s Executive Director.  “The AIDS Foundation is aggressively working to reach the Bay Area’s large Spanish-speaking population with accurate information about HIV transmission, treatment and care.”

Another milestone designed to increase available services to Spanish-speaking audiences occurs on November 16 when the multimedia www.tweaker.org launches Tweaker Español, a Spanish-language version of the popular website.  tweaker.org provides information about crystal meth, how it affects a user’s body, his personal life and his sex life.  Tweaker Español will also include details about where men who use methamphetamine can access Spanish-language support and services in the Bay Area.

tweaker.org, which receives more than 60,000 visits each month, is operated by the Stonewall Project, a division of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation that delivers harm reduction information to gay men who use methamphetamine. Staff members are hopeful that a parallel version in Spanish will deliver Stonewall’s harm reduction messages to communities who might not otherwise have access to them.