HIV Affecting the South Bronx - Research Paper Example

?Running head: The South Bronx The South Bronx [Institute’s The South Bronx South Bronx – Overview The South Bronx forms a partof the New York City region of The Bronx. The South Bronx is a part of New York’s 16th congressional district, which happens to be among the five poorest districts of the US (Tax Foundation, 2007). Since the beginning the South Bronx has remained a region mainly for the working class families. It was during the latter part of the 20th century that this region was assumed to be poor and the impression has remained since then. The South Bronx has been ruined and continues to decay owing to a couple of elements, some of them including white flight, landlord abandonment, changes in economic demographics abandonment, as well as building of the cross Bronx expressway (Caro, 1974, pp. 893-894). The South Bronx population is rising at the moment (South Bronx Resurrection, 2004). Efforts have been made to improve the region since the days of arson, and the South Bronx is said to be actually recovering now. However, this region lies in the poorest congressional district of the nation (Tax Foundation, 2007) and majority of the Bronx’s housing projects are present there. 50% of the population is below the poverty line. Drug trafficking, gang activity, and prostitution are among the usual crimes carried out within the South Bronx. The rate of crime is very high and the regions where the crimes are common are, in fact, NYPD impact zones. Service Facilities It was made sure that the completion of the Yankee Stadium coincided with the beginning of the 2009 baseball season. It is not yet known, however, when the athletic fields and green spaces would be completed. The stadium has been facing opposition the reasons being pollution and traffic (New Yankee Stadium, 2009). Building of the new Yankee Stadium led to major controversy over plans. These plans included new athletic fields, tennis courts, bicycle and walking paths, stores and restaurants. There was also a metro-north railroad station that was expected to help in the easing of rush on the subway (Hughes, 2007). Authorities were hopeful that such advancements would allow for the generation of residential building. The late 1980s witnessed certain regions of the South Bronx being renewed. Rehabilitation was done and residential structures were constructed; these included subsidized multifamily town homes as well as apartment buildings (Wynn, 2005). Construction of prefabricated ranch style houses was completed in that region by 1985, and this brought about such a major change to the region that it was difficult for the Bronx historian to recognize the place where carter surveyed the scene (Fernandez, 2007). Few of the community school districts are located in the South Bronx (New York City Department of Education). The public schools of that region include three charter schools. A new elementary charter school, Academic Leadership Charter School was initiated in 2009. Profit as well as nonprofit organizations are set up in the South Bronx and they train people for their professional purposes. Besides this educational programs are also offered. One such example of a nonprofit organization is per scholas and it gives free training in its respective field allowing the citizens to secure jobs assisting them in constructing their careers. Per scholas works together with some middle schools of the region, their students and their families providing help and assistance in the field of computer. Citizens of the South Bronx travel in vehicles or through mass transit. According to certain development plans there will be built a South Bronx Greenway (South Bronx Greenway) for connecting south to Randalls Island and north along the Bronx River. A large majority of the citizens of the 16th congressional district, 77.3% to be exact, did not have their own vehicles, and around the whole city it was 55% (Fact Sheet, Rep. Jose E. Serrano, 2000). The citizens of the south Bronx have recreational facilities too and they enjoy there. One, for instance, is St. Mary’s Park which is the largest park of the South Bronx. It is very common to see the Bronx citizens spending a lot of time there since it offers great fun and relaxation. The picnickers are often seen around and they bring snacks and drinks there and spend the day. There are options for sporty people as well and a runner’s track and courts are available too. The park is available for all ages and besides the fun and games section there are also education programs and dance classes. Environmental and Safety Conditions Sustainable South Bronx (SSBx) was established in 2001 and since then it has come to be known as being among the most successful environmental justice organization of the country. It has undertaken a range of projects such as green roof installation and community urban planning. The aim of SSBx is to encourage and implement environmental justice by means of economically sustainable and locally demanded ways. The most important of these projects is the Bronx Environmental Stewardship Training Program (BEST). This project aims at providing training and certification courses in a wide range, from asbestos removal to urban forestry. Then there is the South Bronx Environmental Health and Policy Study, which aims at studying the environmental and health problems which affect the South Bronx. It emphasizes more on how air quality, transportation, waste disposal, demographic features and public health are related. The South Bronx has the highest rates of asthma as compared to the rest of the country, and according to the citizens there asthma is the most important health problem of that community which needs to be addressed urgently. The organization collaborates with other health, infrastructure and other organizations to works together against the issues. A report was published by the Urban Justice Center and Mothers on the Move which stated that there is a requirement from the side of the New York City Housing Authority to improve housing and environmental conditions in the South Bronx (Urban Justice Center, 2005). Together with this the organization needs to work at providing work opportunities for the citizens, and there should be a green jobs program that provides training to public housing residents for retrofitting public housing developments within the region. Included in this is a great variety of “greening techniques” which have a goal toward enhancing the present structures, improving the efficiency with which the energy is used and increasing the sustainability of the buildings. Yet another organization working for the betterment of the county is the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance that works for bringing about positive changes particularly for the poorer and the minority communities. Their major programs are toward open space equity and brownfield redevelopment. They also work in partnership with other organizations of Bronx and together they work at environmental justice projects. South Bronx has a history of industrial and manufacturing land use and thus it is a very logical decision to turn to brownfield development in order to improve the community. Population Characteristics The south Bronx is a very diverse community and it is evolving till today. It ranks 20th on the list of the most populated city of the US. However, the US Census Bureau (2010) has claimed that it stands to be the poorest district of the whole country. Besides, hunger and obesity rates in the south Bronx are the highest in the entire nation. Overall, the performance of the school district is also least in this county. The South Bronx is made up of five community districts within the southwestern area of the county of the Bronx. In 2000 the population of South Bronx was 522,412, and this consisted of around 40% of the total population of the whole of Bronx. Of these people, 39% are Black while 60% are Hispanic (Restrepo, 2004). Blacks and Hispanics in this region are pretty much more than those found living in Bronx County, the City or New York State. There are certain Federal guidelines that have defined the minority populations in order to be able to identity environmental justice problems which may be related to federal actions. The percentages that they have defined do not match the actual ones, the latter being higher. Between 1990 and 2000 there has been a 3.5% decline in the Black population of South Bronx, and an 18.8% increase in the Hispanic population (Public Health and Environmental Policy Analysis, 2002). By the 1970s extreme poverty had passed on till Fordham Road in the north and during these times the Bronx was going through very bad times, the worse it had ever seen. As of 2010, 38% of the total population of South Bronx was living below the poverty line (Sisk, 2010). Considering the whole of the Bronx County the percentage stood at 28.3% and in New York it was 14.2%. The growth rate of the South Bronx between 1990 and 2000 stood at 11.8% which was a bit more than that of the whole Bronx County (10.7%), and the twice the rate in New York State (5.5%). From a 2000 census the US Census Bureau concluded that 47.29% of the Bronx citizens of age five and more speak just English at home. 43.67% speak Spanish, and these may or may not include the English speakers. Besides these two major languages Italian, Albanian, Kru, Ibo or Yoruba and French are also spoken here. These are the minor languages spoken by almost 0.25% of the population. The HIV Problem The South Bronx has the highest rate of HIV infections among women (National Research Council (U.S.), 1993, p. 286). According to epidemiologists AIDS virus infects one in five sexually active men in the South Bronx. Because of such a type of rampant infection any woman having sex with a neighbor would be undergoing “sexual Russian roulette” (Rooney, 1995, p. 38). The seriousness of this problem is such that AIDS is the leading cause of death for the women of New York (between ages 25-34). Also, one in every twenty babies born in Bronx hospitals is infected with AIDS, while five in twenty are born having opiates in their blood. However, the percentage of deaths due to AIDS is not even among all the races living there. According to a study: Among whites, the AIDS death rate rose from 0.6 per 100,000 women in 1986 to 1.2 in 1988. But among blacks, the rate was 4.4 in 1986 and jumped to 10.3 in 1988. In 1987, the AIDS death rate among black women in New York was 29.5 per 100,000 (Lambert, 1990). What is being done? Prevention programs are in progress for curbing the AIDS issue in the South Bronx. One, for instance, is by Health People. They have claimed that their “prevention programs are saving the lives of women and men today… preventing even greater numbers of children from being orphaned tomorrow” (Groups and Programs). Health People was founded in 1990 and since then it has worked toward the prevention of AIDS and also supporting the patients in the poorer communities, the South Bronx being one. They train HIV positive and HIS affected people to lead in the fight against AIDS. They offer a three-month training course for educators and this course helps the people in the sense of making them effective educators. The community requires AIDS prevention programs in the low income areas and more so for the black women since they are the ones suffering the most. Every person should be given the due attention in this regard, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race, age and so on. The already affected people also need support and care. They should be given constant help and understand in order that they can themselves then care for their family. Parenting courses for parents infected with HIV are also offered which allow them to take necessary decisions for their family’s future and betterment. It is important to help the kids of the South Bronx since so many of them lose one or both of their parents due to AIDS. For that purpose such kids are taken for outings and through these outings they socialize with other children of their age and also other adults so that they get to know them and will have someone on whom to lean on when their own parents are ill or passed away. In 2008 the New York City health department decided to give an HIV test to every adult of the Bronx (Altman & Pickert, 2008). This is an ambitious step and the citizens of Bronx badly need it. This was also necessary considering that the rate of deaths in South Bronx due to AIDS was much higher than the rest of the country because a large majority of the sufferers only discover out that they are infected after the disease has progressed to a great extent. Therefore, HIV test was made a part of the routine so that more and more adults would participate. Just an HIV test was not conducted; it was suggested that the patients and the ones undergoing the test also need counseling and advice regarding the issue. Prior to the test they need to be told about it, the consequences of what may happen if they keep avoiding the test and how taking the test would benefit them and their families. References (n.d.). Retrieved December 2, 2011, from New York City Department of Education: http://schools.nyc.gov/default.htm Fact Sheet, Rep. Jose E. Serrano. (2000). Retrieved December 3, 2011, from Tri?State Transportation Campaign: http://www.tstc.org/reports/cpsheets/USCongress_factsheet_district%2016.pdf Public Health and Environmental Policy Analysis. (2002, September). Retrieved December 3, 2011, from Institute for Civil Infrastructure Systems: http://www.icisnyu.org/admin/files/PhaseIWagner930.pdf South Bronx Resurrection. (2004, May 27). Retrieved December 2, 2011, from Urban Tours by Rental Car: http://www.rentalcartours.net/rac-sbronx.pdf New Yankee Stadium. (2009, April). Retrieved December 2, 2011, from Ballparks: http://www.ballparks.com/baseball/american/nyybpk.htm Altman, A., & Pickert, K. (2008, July 11). A Battle in the Bronx Over HIV Testing. Retrieved December 05, 2011, from TIME US: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1822013,00.html Caro, R. A. (1974). The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the fall of New York. New York: Knopf. Fernandez, M. (2007, October 5). In the Bronx, Blight Gave Way to Renewal . Retrieved December 2, 2011, from The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/05/nyregion/05charlotte.html Groups and Programs. (n.d.). Retrieved December 05, 2011, from Health People: http://www.healthpeople.org/groups.php#hiv Hughes, C. J. (2007, May 20). Home of the Bronx Roar. Retrieved December 2, 2011, from The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/20/realestate/20livi.html?pagewanted=print Lambert, B. (1990, July 11). AIDS in Black Women Seen as Leading Killer. Retrieved December 3, 2011, from The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/11/nyregion/aids-in-black-women-seen-as-leading-killer.html National Research Council (U.S.). (1993). The social impact of AIDS in the United States. National Academies Press. Restrepo, C. Z. (2004). A comparison of ground-level air quality data with New York State Department. Atmospheric Environment, 38, 5295-5304. Rooney, J. (1995). Organizing the South Bronx. SUNY Press. Sisk, R. (2010, September 29). South Bronx is poorest district in nation, U.S. Census Bureau finds: 38% live below poverty line. Retrieved December 3, 2011, from New York Daily News: http://articles.nydailynews.com/2010-09-29/local/27076750_1_poverty-rate-poverty-line-south-bronx South Bronx Greenway. (n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2011, from New York City Economic Development Corp.: http://www.nycedc.com/ProjectsOpportunities/CurrentProjects/Bronx/SouthBronxGreenway/Pages/SouthBronxGreenway.aspx Tax Foundation. (2007, January 17). Federal Individual Income Tax Burden by Congressional District, 2004. Retrieved December 2, 2011, from Tax Foundation: http://www.taxfoundation.org/publications/show/2147.html Urban Justice Center. (2005, April 15). Survey finds South Bronx residents give NYCHA failing grades, want more jobs, cleaner environment. Retrieved December 05, 2011, from Urban Justice Center: http://www.urbanjustice.org/pdf/press/cdppress_15apr11.pdf Wynn, T. (2005, January 1). South Bronx rises out of the ashes. Retrieved December 2, 2011, from NBC News: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6807914/#I Read More