National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is this Saturday. The Florida Department of Health is helping to raise awareness of the disease.
Collier County’s black communities are affected by HIV and AIDS at a much higher rate than its white communities.
Isidra Gomes is the supervisor for HIV prevention at the Collier County Health Department. She said the HIV/AIDS rate among black men is four times higher than in white men, and fifteen times higher in black women than in white women in Collier.
“It has to do with social and economic factors,” said Gomes. “Maybe social norms or lack of education on HIV, and that probably effects our black and Hispanic populations too.”
The Florida Department of Health is sponsoring free screenings through February 7th at the Marion E. Feather Medical Center in Immokalee. It encourages black communities to get educated, get tested, get treated, and get involved.