HIV Among Hispanic and Latino People: National Latinx AIDS Awareness Day

National Latinx AIDS Awareness Day, observed every October 15, draws attention to the continuing, disproportionate impact of HIV and AIDS on Hispanic and Latino people in the United States. CDC marked it in 2018 with a short note in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

The gap

• The prevalence of diagnosed HIV infection among Hispanic and Latino people is about twice that among non-Hispanic white people.
• Among people with diagnosed HIV, the share who are virally suppressed — fewer than 200 copies of HIV RNA per milliliter of blood — is lower among Hispanic and Latino people than among non-Hispanic white people.

Women and men

An analysis of Hispanic and Latino participants in CDC's Medical Monitoring Project (2013 and 2014 cycles) compared women and men living with HIV:

Women were significantly more likely to live in poverty, yet women and men were equally likely to be prescribed antiretroviral therapy and to keep the virus durably suppressed.

What CDC supports

The day is a chance to encourage more HIV prevention among Hispanic and Latino communities. CDC supports:

• HIV testing;
• linking people to care and keeping them in care and treatment;
• other efforts to reduce the risk of getting or passing on HIV.

More is at CDC's page on HIV among Hispanic and Latino people.

Sources

Based on "National Latinx AIDS Awareness Day — October 15, 2018," Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 67(40), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; a work of the United States government in the public domain.