A NY Times reader wrote in to the newspaper to point out that, when discussing HIV, its important to note that the virus is on the rise in Latinas and / or Black women. Regardless of how many purity rings we may wear. Writes Tracie:

Young black and Latina women make up almost 30 percent of the newly reported H.I.V. infections in New York City. Today’s H.I.V. epidemic among women and girls is fueled largely by heterosexual transmission.

Myth busted. She continues:

Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that more than one in four American teenage girls are infected with at least one sexually transmitted disease, but the infection rate for black girls is 48 percent.

We’re not sure if she’s saying that the Centers’ information is incorrect of if Black girls somehow don’t fall under the umbrella of “American girls,” but, either way. Scary. Fortunately, Tracie offers some solutions:

We must develop more effective education, prevention and outreach that reaches them where they are, making H.I.V. information accessible in barber shops, nail salons and community restaurants and ensuring that H.I.V. testing is offered in a broader range of health and social service settings. There should not be a fourth decade of new infections.

Tracie M. Gardner New York, Sept. 5, 2008

And while cleaner facilities is all well and good, that’s a tactic better suited for preventing the spread of pink eye than of HIV. The one thing we can do to really ensure the spread of HIV doesn’t continue rising, aside from advising people to, like, use clean needles, is to educate people about sex: Let them know their options, how to keep themselves and their partners safe, when to say yes, how to say no. Because simply dealing with statistics without stomping out the root of the problem — ignorance — isn’t going to help anybody or stop the problem from growing. So let’s please, please, please keep talking about sex. Baby.

The Spread of H.I.V. Among Black and Latina Women [NY Times]