Photo credit: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2072/2226056444_2ec906e576_o.jpg
The major area of HIV/AIDS concentration in Brooklyn are the areas of Bedford Stuyvesant and Crown Heights (zip codes of 11212, 11213, 11216, 11233, 11238), which are shown to have the highest people living with AIDS and HIV rate. This is especially true particularly in the black race. There is a range of 1313 to 1871 HIV/AIDS per 100,000 in these two neighborhoods. Thus the focus should be preventing the disease through various aspects and decreasing the amount of AIDS rate is on the highest risk group: the black community. Within the Bedford Stuyvesant and Crown Heights neighborhood, the most populated race is Black Americans, mainly composed of West Indians (1). After performing research, I discovered that there has been a recent increase of HIV cases in the adolescent population in New York City. The adolescent rate has surprisingly surpassed the HIV rates of gay men (6). Furthermore, I found out that there is a significant correlation between HIV infection and housing; therefore I decided to focus on the African American adolescent population group in Crown Heights and Bedford Stuyvesant. A study shows that African American adolescents are at a greater disadvantage ethnically and politically in the struggle for general resources. Adolescents are also more likely to make poor decisions and result in a bad consequence on their health (15 & 16). There are about 1.5 million homeless adolescents of age 14 to 24 and 4% are HIV positive (7). This is becoming a risky population, a population of which composes the future generation; therefore it is a population that needs to be addressed. In the following contents, the prevention of HIV/AIDS of these neighborhoods will be focused on the homeless adolescent HIV population.
>>Moving towards finding a solution
<<Main Page