The AIDS and HIV Threat in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania

III. The Problem

After the data revealed that my estimate was far off, I was curious to discover the extent to which AIDS actually existed in Pittsburgh.  Using the data provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Health, I found several trends that existed in Pittsburgh and revealed the nature of the AIDS problem in the city.  The first and most striking of these trends came from the data of AIDS cases by zip code (see table 1.2).  After calculating the AIDS and HIV infection rates in these zip codes it was apparent that certain sections of the city had much greater rates of infection than the others.  When initially asked to guess which three neighborhoods had the highest number of cumulative AIDS cases I guessed areas with high poverty levels and a predominately black population.  After calculating the infection rates (which give a better picture of the extent of infection) I found that the top three neighborhoods were East Liberty/Highland Park, the North Side, and Edgewood.  These results did not particularly surprise me, as they are mostly poor and black, factors that have a relationship to higher AIDS rates in Pittsburgh (see table 2.1).  The zip code data established my notion that in Pittsburgh, areas known for being poverty-stricken have higher AIDS rates, and also the neighborhoods with higher black populations also tend to have higher AIDS rates.

Another group that must always be examined when discussing AIDS infection data is homosexual men.  While Pittsburgh does not have a visibly large homosexual community, there is a scene for homosexual men in Pittsburgh.  This fact is obvious in the AIDS data for the region, although I did not know this when asked to guess what percent of cumulative AIDS cases in Allegheny County is male and what percent resulted from heterosexual contact.  I guessed 70 percent and 40 percent, respectively, but in fact the numbers are 86 percent male and only 10 percent heterosexual contact.  Men having sex with men is the leading form of transmission of AIDS and HIV in Allegheny County (see table 3.1).  To find out why my guesses were so inaccurate I investigated the area’s most read homosexual newspaper, a monthly publication called Out, and this paper’s list of homosexual bars and baths.  I was surprised to find that Pittsburgh has a men’s bath called Club Pittsburgh, and many homosexual bars in the neighborhoods of the North and South Sides, Shadyside, and Downtown.  The fact that I was ignorant of the homosexual population of Pittsburgh was the main reason for my inaccurate guesses.

Overall, my guesses at the start of this project were extremely off target because of the effect that the media had on my perspective of AIDS in Allegheny County.  The tendency of the PPG and the Trib to either ignore the local effect of AIDS or to focus on AIDS in Africa greatly decreased my awareness of the fact that AIDS and HIV are both still prevalent in Pittsburgh.  While AIDS in Allegheny County is generally more prevalent in the homosexual and underprivileged communities, everyone is threatened, and the social and cultural barriers that exist both within and among these groups will ensure that the AIDS menace will never be removed from Pittsburgh.  An example of this comes from an article about a young rapper from Pittsburgh trying to make a difference by rapping about AIDS and HIV: “‘There is a stereotype in our community where lots of females feel to talk about AIDS means you must have AIDS,’ [he said]. ‘Lots of black guys feel to talk about HIV you must be homosexual’” (7).  The problem of AIDS in Pittsburgh may not be as dire as in other areas of the country or the world, but it is still a killer and must be dealt with as such.

Back to the Main Page

Back to II. The Media

View Works Cited

View Project 1 Data Tables