SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) -- San Francisco's HIV mapping project is showing disturbing disparities in treatment.
The indicator of how well treatment is working for those with HIV is the viral load, which is ideally 50 with the virus undetectable in the blood stream. The San Francisco Public Health Department looked at viral loads in neighborhoods throughout the city and found that while the number if HIV cases is highest in the Castro District, other neighborhoods have higher viral loads, clearly due to lack of treatment.
KCBS’ Janice Wright Reports
"Nobody in San Francisco in this day and age should be walking around with an HIV viral load of 100,000," said Dr. Grant Colfax, director of the Public Health Department's HIV section.
The findings come as no surprise to San Francisco Supervisor Sophie Maxwell, whose district includes the Bayview and Potrero Hill, where those numbers are high.
"It's about health disparities among African Americans and people of color," said Maxwell.
Those groups also tend to be harder hit by other treatable diseases like diabetes because of a distrust of the medical community and, Maxwell thinks, a lack of outreach.
"We need a campaign, and the campaign needs to focus more on this community that's hit so hard," said Maxwell.
She and Doctor Colfax agree that especially in these lean financial times, this kind of mapping can send what money there is where it's needed most.
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