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HIV Epidemic Slams Mid-South

By Candice Ludlow

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkno/local-wkno-614677.mp3

Memphis, TN – HIV/AIDS is the number one killer of African-American women of childbearing age. Recently, Memphis was named as a Title One City by the Centers for Disease Control to help combat the escalation of HIV and AIDS.

Why are African-American women are contracting HIV faster than any other ethnic group today? Many of these women are heterosexual, and didn't think that they were partaking in high risk activities. The high risk activity that they didn't realize they were taking was having unprotected sex with an infected male.

Many of the people on the frontlines of the fight against HIV and AIDS point to the prison system, where African American men cycle through as well as the Down Low Brother, as a culprit. The Down Low Brother is an man who openly has sexual relations with a female, while at the same time having sex with other men, but on the Down Low, or kept quiet. Other culprits in the transmission of HIV are drug abuse and sexually transmitted co-infections.