Blacks Top HIV Diagnosis Numbers

WASHINGTON - A CDC analysis of previously reported data from 37 U.S. states between 2005 and 2008 indicates that African Americans continue to experience a disproportionate burden of HIV diagnoses, with higher rates of HIV diagnoses than any other racial or ethnic group. HIV diagnoses are the number of people diagnosed with HIV in a given time period, regardless of when they originally became infected. In 2008, the HIV diagnoses rate among black males and females was eight and nineteen times the rate for whites and two and four times the rates for Hispanic/Latino males and females. Between 2005 and 2008, blacks represented half of all HIV diagnoses (50.3 percent) in the 37 reporting states, despite accounting for just 13.6 percent of the U.S. population. In addition, the data show that rates of HIV diagnoses increased among black men during the four year period studied. While disparities of HIV diagnoses rates between blacks and other racial and ethnic groups existed across several demographic and transmission groups, they were most pronounced among young people (aged 13-24), women, and among persons who were infected through heterosexual contact. According to the authors, addressing social and contextual factors, such as poverty and access to health care, is key to reducing these racial disparities.