Rising rates of HIV/AIDS in Chinese American Community

The original article appeared in Chinese. 

Translated Summary

Asians have long been considered a safe group that is almost immune from HIV. The community has the smallest share of people living in HIV among all racial groups. But it is the only racial group in NYC that saw an increase in new HIV diagnoses in 2007 compared with five years earlier.   

The problem may also be under-estimated because only 6% of Asians have ever been advised by their doctors to take an HIV test, the lowest among all racial groups. And Asians don’t tend to be willing to take the test voluntarily either because of cultural taboos, the traditional belief that it is best to stay away from the doctors and the fear of being deported if found HIV positive. As a result, many Asians are found to have HIV only when they are hospitalized with severe illness.  

The ignorance about the disease in the community put infected people into further isolation. It’s still a common belief that HIV infection will lead to a quick death and the virus can be passed through casual contact. Some HIV positive people interviewed for the story said family members ban them from hugging kids in the family, separate their dishes and don't want to use the bathroom after them. To avoid this, many people just choose not to tell anyone about their infection, which often put their spouses at risk.   

In mainstream, homosexual men and drug users are considered the high risk population for HIV infection and this is where the government directs the money to. But things could be different in the Asian community. For example, most of HIV positive Chinese in NYC are heterosexual men infected by visiting brothels. Women who contracted the virus from their husbands are also increasing.  But prevention and medical care money for these people is scare.