HIV Stigma High Among Asian
Americans
May 16, 2006—The
Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team launched a public
service campaign yesterday to address findings that HIV
stigma is particularly high among Asian Americans. In 2002,
Asian Americans accounted for 2% of HIV infections in Los
Angeles, where the team is based, but the rate rose to 5% in
2005.
With a less open attitude
towards Aids, Asian Americans tend to stigmatize their peers
infected with AIDS and HIV , according to a medical report
published on Monday.
The way Asian cultures treat
people with the disease should be changed , said the report
issued by the Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team.
In an effort to reverse the
trend , the team will run public service television spots
featuring Asian-Americans talking about AIDS, according to
the report available to Xinhua on Monday.
The commercials, part of what
the group is calling the Banyan Tree Project, will show
people talking about HIV and AIDS in
Vietnamese, Cantonese, Tagalog and Hindi.
Tim Young, whose brother Terry
Young died of AIDS in 1993, said the subject of AIDS was
taboo in many Asian cultures.
``I saw some ugly, ugly things
happening to my brother when he was sick,'' said Young, who
is program director of the group. `` After he had passed, I
came to realize that he wasn't singled out; it was happening
to others.''
Terry Young, who lived in
Fullerton of Los Angeles, was 29 when he died. His brother
told the newspaper that all but one of Terry's friends
abandoned him on his death bed and that many families
refused to make eye contact with the Youngs because they had
a family member with AIDS.
The number of AIDS diagnoses
in the Asian-American population has increased in recent
years. In 2002, Asian-American and Pacific Islander groups
accounted for 2 percent of the cases reported in the Los
Angeles Orange County, where the team is based. It rose to 5
percent in 2005, said the report.
Young said the numbers could
be higher because some local residents get treated in other
areas in Los Angeles and San Diego to avoid being seen in
their neighborhood.
Source: Xinhua
