The document summarizes key points about Latinx communities and HIV/AIDS prevention including: - Latinx people represent 15.3% of the US population but account for 24.8% of HIV diagnoses due to undercounting of Puerto Ricans. - Substance use, mental illness, and HIV/AIDS are interlinked and increasing one risk can increase the others. - Injection drug use and sex with injection drug users were major causes of AIDS cases among Hispanic women in the late 1990s. - Harm reduction strategies like syringe exchange programs are effective in preventing HIV transmission and should be supported.

1. Latin@ Lives and the Next Generation of HIV Prevention: Policies, Politics and Research Joyce A. Rivera, St. Ann’s Corner of Harm Reduction, Sponsored by CHAMP July 9, 2008

2. Harm reduction practice mediates substance use by providing self-management strategies that are immediately effective in reducing personal and communal harm. © J. Rivera & B. Majoor, 2003

5. Substance Use can increase HIV-risk behaviors and increases risk of mental disorders Mental Disorders may increase impulsivity and impair problem solving, increasing risk for substance use and HIV-risky behaviors HIV/AIDS can increase risk of mental Illness (depression, anxiety, sleep disorders) and substance use disorders © Majoor, 2004 COMPLEXITY

7. Source: Community Health Profile Hunts Point/Mott Haven, NYC DOH&MH, 2003