National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, February 7, 2019

The day

National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is observed every February 7 to draw attention to the continuing, disproportionate toll of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) on Black Americans.

The numbers

• In 2017, Black Americans made up 13% of the U.S. population but 44% of all new HIV diagnoses.
• They had the highest rate of new diagnoses of any racial or ethnic group — 41.1 per 100,000 people.
• Their rate was the highest in each of the four census regions, and highest of all among Black residents of the South — 44.8 per 100,000.

Finding undiagnosed infections

Partner services is an effective, high-yield way to find undiagnosed infections and connect newly diagnosed people to HIV care. The same issue of MMWR carried the first national analysis of partner services offered to Black Americans through CDC-funded health departments.

CDC supports a range of efforts to reduce the risk of acquiring or transmitting HIV among Black Americans — more at CDC's awareness day feature.

Sources

Based on "National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day — February 7, 2019," MMWR, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drawing on U.S. Census Bureau population estimates and CDC's HIV Surveillance Report for 2017; a work of the United States government in the public domain.