Saturday, August 14, 2010

HIV/AIDS among African Americans
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View PDF PDF IconRevised August 2009

The HIV/AIDS epidemic in African American communities is a continuing public health crisis for the United States. At the end of 2006 there were an estimated 1.1 million people living with HIV infection, of which almost half (46%) were black/African American [1]. While blacks represent approximately 12 percent of the U.S. population, they continue to account for a higher proportion of cases at all stages of HIV/AIDS—from infection with HIV to death with AIDS—compared with members of other races and ethnicities [2, 3].

The Numbers

HIV/AIDS in 2007

  • Blacks accounted for 51% of the 42, 655 (including children) new HIV/AIDS diagnoses in 34 states with long-term, confidential name-based HIV reporting [3].
  • Blacks accounted for 48% of the 551,932 persons*(including children) living with HIV/AIDS in 34 states with long-term, confidential name-based HIV reporting [3].
  • For black women living with HIV/AIDS, the most common methods of transmission were high-risk heterosexual contact** and injection drug use [3].
  • For black men living with HIV/AIDS, the most common methods of HIV transmission were (in order) [3]:
    • sexual contact with other men
    • injection drug use
    • high-risk heterosexual contact**.


AIDS in 2007

  • Blacks accounted for 49% of the estimated 35,962 AIDS cases diagnosed in the 50 states and the District of Columbia [3].
  • In 2007, the rates of AIDS diagnoses decreased among blacks but were still higher than the rates of any other race/ethnicity. The rate of AIDS diagnoses for black adults/adolescents were 10 times the rate for whites and nearly 3 times the rate for Hispanics. The rate of AIDS diagnoses for black women was 22 times the rate for white women. The rate of AIDS diagnoses for black men was almost 8 times the rate for white men [3].
  • Blacks accounted for 44% of the 455,636* people living with AIDS in the 50 states and District of Columbia [3].
  • By the end of 2007, 40% of the 562,793* persons with AIDS who died were black [3].

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