ABSTRACT
The year 2011 marks the 30th anniversary of the discovery of the HIV/AIDS virus (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 1981; Gottlieb, 1981; Gottlieb, Schanker, Fan, Saxon, & Weisman, 1981). Although the United States has invested substantial efforts in reducing and eliminating HIV infections and AIDS-related morbidity and mortality, these efforts have had less than optimal success among subpopulations of some racial/ethnic minorities (Dean & Fenton, 2010; Mays, Cochran, & Zamudio, 2004; Sutton et al., 2009). Indeed, CDC surveillance data paint an alarming picture of increasing disparities in HIV/AIDS cases both in terms of such individual characteristics as race and ethnicity and by geographic region. Sadly, for some subpopulations, such as African American women, the incidence and prevalence of HIV infections is worse now than in the early years of the HIV epidemic (Mays & Cochran, 1987, 1988, 1993). In recent data examining new infections from just 2005 to 2008, African American women accounted for 64% of new infections. This trend of increasing proportions of new cases of HIV occurring in African American women cries out for changes in the way the state, county, and federal agencies approach HIV prevention and intervention (CDC, 2010).
