HIV/AIDS FACT SHEET in Black America

Post date: Apr 10, 2015 12:02:38 AM

HIV/AIDS in the U.S, including more than 500,000 who are Black.

FACT SHEET

When we look at HIV/AIDS by race and ethnicity, Blacks have more illness (Blacks represent only 12% of the U.S. population, yet account for 44% of new HIV infections and 44% of people living with HIV disease in 2006); and more deaths (Blacks accounted for 57% of deaths due to HIV in 2007 and the survival time after an AIDS diagnosis is lower on average than it is for most other racial/ethnic groups). In 2009, Blacks accounted for 44% of all new HIV infections.

The AIDS diagnosis rate per 100,000 among Black adults/adolescents was 8 times that of whites in 2008. The AIDS diagnosis rate for Black men (103.6) was the highest of any group, followed by Latino men (45.5), and Black women (38.1). By comparison, the rate among white men was 8.7. The rate of new infections is also highest among Blacks and was 7 times greater than the rate among whites in 2006.

Among the U.S. population overall, Blacks are more likely than Latinos or whites to report having been tested for HIV in the last 12 months (45% compared to 30% and 14% respectively). Among those who are HIV positive, CDC data indicate that 33% of Blacks were tested for HIV late in their illness—that is, diagnosed with AIDS within one year of testing positive for HIV (in those states/areas with HIV name reporting); by comparison, 30% of whites and 36% of Latinos were tested late.

In 2009, an estimated 16,741 Blacks were diagnosed with AIDS diagnosis in the US, a number that has slowly decreased since 2006. By the end of 2008, an estimated 260,800 Blacks with an AIDS diagnosis had died in the US. In 2009, HIV was the ninth leading cause of death for all Blacks and the fourth leading cause of death for both Black men and Black women aged 25–44.

The number of new HIV infections per year among Blacks is down from its peak in the late 1980s, but has exceeded the number of infections among whites since that time; new infections have remained stable in recent years.

A recent analysis of 1999–2006 data from a national household survey found that 2% of Blacks in the U.S. (among those ages 18–49) were HIV positive, significantly higher than whites (0.23%). Also, the prevalence of HIV was higher among Black men (2.64%) than Black women (1.49%).

From 2005–2008, the rate of HIV diagnoses among Blacks increased from 68 per 100,000 persons to 74 per 100,000. This increase reflects the largest increase in rates of HIV diagnoses by race or ethnicity.

Of the estimated 141 infants prenatally infected with HIV, 91 (65%) were Black (CDC, HIV/AIDS Reporting System, unpublished data, December 2006).

HIV and AIDS Diagnoses and Deaths

At some point in their lifetimes, 1 in 16 Black men will be diagnosed with HIV infection, as will 1 in 32 Black women.

In 2012, African Americans had the largest percentage (47%) of the estimated 47,989 diagnoses of HIV infection in the United States.

In 2012, an estimated 14,102 African Americans were diagnosed with HIV infection ever classified as stage 3 (AIDS) in the United States.

By the end of 2011, an estimated 265,812 African Americans diagnosed with HIV infection ever classified as stage 3 (AIDS) had died in the United States.

More new HIV infections (4,800) occurred among young African American men (aged 13-24)