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046 <br /> • Although the percentage of Blacks contracting AIDS who <br /> ' are gay or bisexual men is somewhat lower than that for <br /> Whites (50% vs . 66%) , gay or bisexual men do account for the <br /> highest number of cases in the Black community. There is <br /> considerable. anecdotal evidence that Black men who engage in <br /> homosexual practices may be harder to reach with AIDS <br /> information than their White counterparts . For instance, <br /> AIDS service organizations have reported that the programs <br /> they have developed for gay men have not attracted many <br /> Blacks. Furthermore, a number of openly gay Black men have <br /> indicated that many other Black men who have sex with men do <br /> not identify themselves as gay. They do not read gay <br /> newspapers , belong to gay organizations , or patronize gay <br /> bars . Thus access to these men through the channels <br /> frequently used to reach gays is probably less effective. <br /> It is intravenous drug use that accounts for most of the <br /> excess cases of AIDS among Blacks in North Carolina and in <br /> the nation as a whole. Some 70% of all AIDS cases in North <br /> Carolina related to IV drug use are Black; the figure for <br /> the U.S. is 51%. IV drug use is an endemic problem in <br /> impoverished communities and Blacks are disproportionately <br /> poor in North Carolina. Thus AIDS compounds the threat that <br /> IV drug use poses those North Carolinians who are poor and <br /> Black. <br /> Black women have been particularly hard hit by AIDS. In <br /> North Carolina 65% of all women with AIDS are Black; in the <br /> U.S. it is more than 50%. The risk factors for the 15 Black <br /> women with AIDS in North Carolina as of August 1987, are as <br /> follows: <br /> * 8 (53%) IV drug users <br /> * 2 ( 13%) heterosexual contact <br /> * 2 ( 13%) transfusion <br /> * 3 (20%) undetermined risk factor <br /> AIDS is also affecting Black children. Although there <br /> have only been eleven confirmed cases of pediatric AIDS (AIDS <br /> in someone under the age of 13) in North Carolina, there have <br /> been almost 800 cases nationwide. More than 80% of those <br /> children have been Black or Hispanic . Most children with <br /> AIDS are infants infected in utero; in most cases the mother <br /> or her partner is an IV drug user . If AIDS is a threat to <br /> Black women of child-bearing age, it is also a threat to <br /> • • their unborn children. • <br /> Teenagers have the lowest prevalence of AIDS; they <br /> account for less than 1% of all cases in the U.S, and less <br /> than 2% in North Carolina. Yet there are important reasons <br /> to target AIDS education efforts to this age group. First , <br />