Your Health

MenteCuerpoHAART.com Fosters Open Dialogue in Latino Community to Enhance HIV/AIDS Prevention, Treatment and Care

Posted 1/7/2011

New website provides tips on how to maintain mental, physical and emotional well-being when dealing with the daily challenges of HIV/AIDS.

(NAPSI) - The HIV/AIDS epidemic has hit Latinos disproportionately hard across the nation. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Latinos comprise 15 percent of the U.S. population but account for an estimated 17 percent of new HIV infections. What’s more, the rate of new HIV infections among Latino men is more than double that of white men and the rate among Latina women is nearly four times that of white women.

To provide culturally relevant information for Latinos living with HIV/AIDS, families, caregivers, healthcare providers and HIV/AIDS educators, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and the Latino Commission on AIDS have launched the Mente, Cuerpo, HAART™ website (Mente CuerpoHAART.com). This comprehensive online resource provides tools and helpful tips on how to maintain mental, physical and emotional well-being when dealing with the daily challenges of the disease. The website’s name encompasses the mental and emotional (Mente), physical (Cuerpo) and treatment (HAART) challenges that come with living with HIV.

“We face many health challenges in our communities. It is imperative that we respond to the HIV/AIDS crisis, perpetuated by social stigma, poverty, immigration status, fears, access to care and language barriers,” says Guillermo Chacon, president of the Latino Commission on AIDS. “MenteCuerpoHAART.com is a culturally relevant informational resource designed to provide Latino patients and their families, caregivers and HIV/AIDS educators tools for dealing with HIV more effectively.”

MenteCuerpoHAART.com aims to help those living with HIV, their families and caregivers understand issues that can affect HIV care and treatment success, manage their care and treatment, communicate with healthcare providers, make medical appointments more useful and adhere to prescribed HIV care and therapy. The site also offers resources to apply for financial support for prescription medications and participate in clinical trials.

For more information, please visit MenteCuerpoHAART.com.