LGBTQ advocates say the government is missing communities of color in its monkeypox response
The CDC said that it has worked to get information about monkeypox in Black and Latino communities by connecting with community-based organizations. | Joe Raedle/Getty Images By Megan Messerly and Krista Mahr 08/18/2022 03:03 PM EDT Link CopiedAs monkeypox spreads across the country, new data suggests a worrying trend: Black and Latino men who have sex with men are far more likely to catch the virus than their white counterparts.While the numbers are limited, they are stark.
Nearly 28 percent of monkeypox cases in the U.S. right now are among Black individuals, and 33 percent are among Hispanic people, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said on Thursday, despite those groups only comprising 13.6 and 18.9 percent of the population, respectively.Despite these warning signs, LGBTQ health advocates and public health experts said government messaging is failing to reach the communities that need it most, and fear federal and state health officials are repeating the mistakes of not only the coronavirus pandemic but also the HIV epidemic, which still disproportionately affects people of color.
They want the government to engage more closelywith organizations that those in affected communities trust, focus outreach in neighborhoods where they live and in the media that they consume, and create better tools for people to seek information and access care.“We had a chance to do better,” said Matthew Rose, a longtime health equity and HIV advocate. “We know the challenges from Covid.
It’s so important to find trusted messengers, but we continue to do broad-based messaging. Then we wait, and say, ‘Look at all this disparity again.’”Federal health officials said they are determined to eliminate the disparities.The administration announced.
