Why Is HIV Still Going?

JUNE 27, 2011 MARKS THE 17TH NATIONAL HIV TESTING DAY. BIGGEST DRIVER OF NEW INFECTIONS IS THE FACT THAT PEOPLE WHO ARE POSITIVE DON'T KNOW THEY'RE INFECTED. SOME 20% OF THE 1.2 MILLION PEOPLE LIVING More than 50% of new sexually transmitted HIV infections are transmitted by those WITH HIV DON'T People who are unaware KNOW THEY'RE of their infection are 3.5 times more likely to transmit HIV than people aware of their infections. INFECTED. who are unaware of their infection. BLACKS ARE LEAST LIKELY TO KNOW THEY ARE INFECTED WITH HIV. BLACK MEN WHO HAVE SEX WITH MEN (MSM) 21% In a study of 21 major U.S. cities, of blacks with HIV didn't know they were infected. (Nearly 100,000 African Americans living with HIV were unaware that they were infected.) About one in five (19%) of MSM were infected with HIV and nearly half of those men were unaware 19% of their infection. of Latinos with HIV didn't know they were YOUNG BLACK MSM ARE LEAST LIKELY TO KNOW infected. THEY ARE HIV POSITIVE. 71% 63% 40% 18.5% of black MSM of white MSM of Latino MSM under 30 who under 30 who under 30 who of whites with HIV didn't know they were infected. were HIV positive were unaware of their infection. were HIV positive were HIV positive were unaware of were unaware of their infection. their infection. AFRICAN AMERICANS REPRESENT NEARLY HALF OF PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV. An analysis by the Black AIDS Institute found that if black America were its own country, it would be ranked African Americans face 46% (or an estimated 510,100 persons) of people living with AIDS and 45% of new infections AIDS is the third leading cause of death among black women aged the most severe burden of HIV infections, representing 14% of the U.S. population, but roughly half of people living with HIV. 25-34 and 3544 and 16th in the world in the each year (estimated 24,900 infections). among black men aged 35-44. number of people with HIV - ahead of Ethiopia, Botswana, and Haiti. GENDER APPROXIMATELY 1 IN 16 The rate of new HIV BLACK MEN WILL BE infections for black men DIAGNOSED WITH HIV DURING THEIR LIFETIME. is about SIX TIMES as high as the rate among white men, nearly 3 TIMES that of Latino men, and more than TWICE that of black women. WHILE 1 IN 32 BLACK WOMEN WILL BE Black women, the majority DIAGNOSED WITH HIV. of whom are infected through heterosexual contact, are far more affected by HIV than women of other races. The rate of new HIV infections for black women is nearly 15 times as high as that of white women, and nearly 4 times as high as that of Latino women. WHILE BLACKS ARE TESTED AT HIGHER RATES, IT'S STILL NOT ENOUGH. About 55% of adults aged 18-64 have never been tested for HIV. African Americans have a higher percentage of ever being tested than any other racial or ethnic group. 60% of African Americans have been tested for HIV, compared to 45 percent of the overall U.S. population. CDC estimates that two in five have never been tested for HIV. Percentage of people to have ever been tested for HIV by race/ethnicity: 62 percent: African American 48 percent:Latino 41 percent: White * Source: Center for Disease Control's Division of HIVIAIDS Prevention. ..... .... ...... ...... ...... .... COLORLINES.com