Nearly 90,000 Latino AIDS cases have already been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. HIV infection rates among Latino men are highest among those who have sex with men and those who use injection drugs. As more Latinas have become infected, the number of HIV-positive Latino children has also risen. In New York City alone, nearly 40 percent of infants with HIV are Latino. A Multilingual Epidemic Experts agree that new and redirected energies must be focused on HIV prevention among Latinos.
Language barriers are often the first impediment to overcome.
According to Heriberto Crespo, director of health education at the Latino Health Institute, prevention efforts need to be directed toward Latinos with limited English language skills. Spanish-language materials, when available, are often literal translations of English materials and therefore culturally inappropriate. Human reproductive anatomy, for example, may be discussed in ways that won't bother Anglos but will shock Latinos. Even within different Spanish-speaking groups, Crespo notes that it is important to use language carefully. If I'm giving a workshop on HIV to Puerto Ricans, I can use the word condones for condoms.