CDC News: Progress and challenges in addressing HIV among African Americans

This National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, Feb. 7, there are encouraging signs that our nation is making progress in the fight against HIV among African Americans. However, HIV remains a serious health crisis in the black community – African Americans account for almost half of all annual HIV diagnoses in the United States and a third of the 1.2 million people living with HIV.

New CDC analyses released today show that:

  • In 2014, one in five African Americans newly diagnosed with HIV had already progressed to AIDS by the time their infection was diagnosed.
  • Fewer than half of African Americans with HIV have achieved viral suppression through care and treatment – meaning the virus is under control and at a level that dramatically reduces the risk of transmission.
  • However, the good news is that prevention efforts are paying off, particularly for women: the disparity in HIV diagnosis rates between African American women and white women shrank by almost 25 percent from 2010 to 2014.

We have more tools today to build on progress toward ending HIV. For people living with HIV, getting tested is the first step to care and treatment, which can keep individuals with HIV healthy and reduce the likelihood of transmitting the virus to others.

For more information, see our statement from CDC’s Dr. Eugene McCray. Additional reporter resources are available on the NCHHSTP online newsroom.

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