Feb. 7 marks the 14th annual National Black HIV Awareness Day.
In a statement, Dr. Jonathan Mermin, director, National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said:
“African Americans now bear the greatest burden of HIV in the United States, accounting for nearly half of the more than 1.1 million Americans living with HIV and nearly half of those who have died with AIDS since the beginning of the epidemic.”
In his statement, he said blacks are not getting the care they need.
Among blacks who have been diagnosed with HIV, only 75 percent were linked to care and only 48 percent stayed in care.
Treatment guidelines in the United States recommend that all people with HIV start antiretroviral therapy regardless of the severity of illness. However, only 46 percent were prescribed antiretroviral therapy, and 35 percent achieved viral suppression.
• CDC estimates show that blacks account for almost half of all new infections in the United States each year (44 percent) as well as almost half of all people living with HIV (44 percent).
• Approximately one in 16 black men will be diagnosed with HIV during their lifetimes, as will one in 32 black women.
• Among blacks, men account for 70 percent of new HIV infections and women account for 30 percent.
• Within the African American community, gay and bisexual men are the most affected, followed by heterosexual women.
• Black men account for almost one-third (31 percent) of all new HIV infections in the United States.
• The rate of new HIV infections for black men is more than six times as high as the rate among white men, and more than twice that of Hispanic men.
• In a study of 21 major U.S. cities in 2008, 28 percent of black MSM were infected, compared to 16 percent of white MSM. Among the black MSM who were HIV-infected, nearly 6 out of 10 (59 percent) were unaware that they were infected.
