The LGBT community needs to reignite the HIV fight

 

In the past few decades there has been tremendous progress made in the fight against HIV and AIDS in the U.S. However, many people may want to believe that the battle is over when it is not. Many individuals think that there is no longer a need to focus on this issue in America, and they would be wrong considering that there are still an estimated 1.2 million people living with HIV in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Recently, The Huffington Post published an article explaining why HIV prevention needs to be a larger part of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) agenda. The news source pointed out that young men who have sex with men are the only risk group in the U.S. that is experiencing an increase HIV infections, which is why it's important for health officials to work with this population and encourage them to practice safe sex.

The information provider stated that the early mobilization of the LGBT community against AIDS in the 1980s resulted in an 89 percent decline in HIV transmission rates. Now, the time has come for this community to mobilize against this virus again.

"By the late 1980s the 'professionalization' of the HIV response resulted in waning interest by LGBT organizations in HIV advocacy and mobilization. HIV was left to the growing number of national and local AIDS organizations that took up the cause. But in mainstreaming HIV as the larger public health challenge that it is, the gay-specific voice has diminished," according to the news source.

The CDC states that one in five people infected with HIV don't even know they have it. This is why it's extremely important for the LGBT community to work together to encourage the younger gay generation to visit testing centers.