One of the things that worried public health leaders gathered at the international conference on AIDS in Mexico City is the fact that more cases of HIV infection still occur among “men who have sex with men.” HIV and AIDS are concentrated in Mexico particularly among MSM. While in the United States, 53 percent of new HIV infections in 2006 were in gay and bisexual men, in Mexico men who have sex with men are 109 times as likely as others to develop HIV, the washingtonpost.com noted.

The biggest percentage (46%) of HIV/AIDS infections in 2007 in US has been reported among men with homosexual orientation. Black Americans are seven times more likely to be infected than whites. Afro-Americans are the most exposed male human beings to HIV infection (annual rate of change 14.9 percent), followed by Caucasians (9.4 percent annual increase) and Hispanics (7.9 percent).

These results bright to light another problem: when the virus fist appeared in the ’80s, the disease was labelled as a homosexual illness. Fighting homophobia was one of the key topics at the International Conference, beside HIV prevention. Thousands of people marched to the streets holding banners with slogans that encouraged people to fight against gay people discrimination. It was their way to show their support to gay people, who represent one fourth of the percentage of HIV/AIDS infections.

Participants concluded that more effort needs to be done in order to reduce the percentage of HIV/AIDS infections. Representatives of the American Foundation for AIDS research emphasized the need to develop programs that target those racial-sexual categories that are at risk.

About 56,000 people became infected with HIV in the past year, according to the revised estimate of HIV’s toll in the United States. CDS’s estimates reveal that the HIV epidemic is worse than previously known. The number of new infections is 40 percent higher than earlier projections.