Funding HIV/AIDS Treatment and Prevention Services in the Asian Pacific American Community

Issues surrounding sexuality can be a difficult topic for many people to openly discuss, but additional cultural barriers can make talking about subjects like HIV/AIDS almost impossible to broach.

How do communities like the Asian Pacific American community deal with controversial topics such as HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment? With an increase in diagnoses, more Asian Pacific Americans are faced with these issues.

Data from the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention indicate a 34 percent increase in the number of AIDS diagnoses among Asian and Pacific Islanders from 1999 to 2003, according to the Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center.

As diagnoses increase, funding has been cut for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment services in California.

For my California Health Journalism Fellowship project, I will research how funding cuts for HIV/AIDS education and prevention services have impacted the Asian Pacific American community. My goal is to bring further awareness to a situation that is impacting the Asian Pacific American community in the state of California. My final project will be published in the Pacific Citizen newspaper, a national Asian Pacific American publication.