Testing Attitudes in America's Forgotten AIDS Epidemic

Abstract

The proportion of Americans who consider HIV/AIDS to be the most urgent health problem facing the United States today has decreased in the past five years, while the importance of addressing the global AIDS threat has become the number one international health issue. At the individual level, a disconnect exists between knowing about AIDS and being aware of ones personal HIV status notably: Knowing whether or not one is HIV positive. Why is it that Americans have a demonstrated knowledge of a deadly epidemic with significant global and future implications, but have an increased ignorance of their own personal HIV status? What compels a person to get tested for HIV? Whereas this question was once rooted in stigma and misperception two things that are still certainly of influence in testing habits we contend it is now predominately rooted in the complexities of race and ethnicity. Recent studies have shown that the domestic AIDS epidemic has disproportionately fallen on the shoulders of minority demographics within the United States. This thesis analyzes the reality of the domestic AIDS burden on minority populations and considers the circumstances of public perception and individual behavior in regards to HIV-testing habits.