What Percent Of Gay People Have Hiv

The Confluence Of Homophobia Racism And Economic Inequalities

For gay and bisexual men of color, the effects of sexual orientation discrimination on HIV risk may be confounded and exacerbated by other powerful structural factors, including racism, lack of access to economic means, and poverty . HIV in the United States has disproportionately affected racial/ethnic minorities and the poor for decades . Thus, the synergistic social conditions of homophobia, racism, and poverty likely explain the even higher incidence of new HIV infections among racial ethnic minorities, particularly Black and Latino gay and bisexual men . In a study of Latino men, Diaz et al. identified positive relations between risky sexual behaviors and the participants experiences of homophobia, racism, and financial instability. Mays, Cochran, and Zamudio revealed similar findings in a study of gay, bisexual and other MSM.

Where Do These Numbers Come From

Most of the data contained in this fact sheet come from HIV in Canada: 2019 Surveillance Highlights Summary: Estimates of HIV incidence, prevalence and Canadas Progress on Meeting the 90-90-90 HIV target, 2018 and population-specific surveillance data.

HIV diagnoses

Healthcare providers are required to report HIV diagnoses to their local public health authorities, including diagnoses resulting from anonymous tests. Each province and territory then compiles this information and provides it to the Public Health Agency of Canada. This information does not contain names or personal identifiers. Sometimes additional information is also collected and sent to the Public Health Agency of Canada, such as information about a persons age, gender, ethnicity, exposure category and laboratory data such as the date of the HIV test.

National estimates of HIV prevalence and incidence

National HIV estimates are produced by the Public Health Agency of Canada using statistical modelling that takes into account some of the limitations of surveillance data and also accounts for the number of people with HIV who do not yet know they have it and the number of people with HIV who have died.

Population-specific surveillance

Canadian Perinatal HIV Surveillance Program

The Canadian Perinatal HIV Surveillance Program collects information on infants born to females with HIV in Canada.

References

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How Can I Prevent Hiv

You can take steps to prevent HIV. Heres what you can do:

Visit Act Against AIDS for more information about HIV and what you can do to stop HIV.

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A Complex Interplay Of Factors

While a few interviewees explained their infection in termsof a single factor, most participants thought that a combination of factors contributedto risk behaviours and HIV infection.

The sex and the drugs and the apps all intertwinedsimultaneously and I cant really say which one led to the other.

The researchers note that there was often an interplaybetween individual, community and structural factors. For example, one man inhis twenties felt that his self-harming sexual behaviours stemmed fromchildhood and a violent relationship with his mother, but also highlighted therole of the abusive environment, including gay saunas.

I think with the sex, I think itsenvironment,especially in South London. The increase of risk sex, chemsex, is becoming anepidemic, in my opinion. You hear of so many young gay men now who arepositiveand through this lifestyle. Its very hedonistic, really nastyIthink, subsequently, living in South London has made me get HIV.

Psychological issuesand drug use were often mentioned in combination. For example, a man in hisforties identified the important factors in his HIV infection as:

The drugsbut also depression because I didnt careabout taking risksI gave up.

Some participantswho had experienced stressful events suggested that changing perceptions of HIVhad consciously, or subconsciously, influenced their behaviour. Risk-benefitdecisions were altered.

Hiv/aids In The United States

The AIDS epidemic, caused by HIV , found its way to the United States as early as 1960, but was first noticed after doctors discovered clusters of Kaposis sarcoma and pneumocystis pneumonia in homosexual men in Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco in 1981. Treatment of HIV/AIDS is primarily via a drug cocktail of antiretroviral drugs, and education programs to help people avoid infection.

Initially, infected foreign nationals were turned back at the U.S. border to help prevent additional infections. The number of U.S. deaths from AIDS has declined sharply since the early years of the diseases presentation domestically. In the United States in 2016, 1.1 million people aged over 13 lived with an HIV infection, of whom 14% were unaware of their infection.Gay and bisexual men, African Americans, and Latinos remain disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS in the U.S.

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How Do You Get Or Transmit Hiv

You can only get HIV by coming into direct contact with certain body fluids from a person with HIV who has a detectable viral load. These fluids are:

• Blood
• Vaginal fluids
• Breast milk

For transmission to occur, the HIV in these fluids must get into the bloodstream of an HIV-negative person through a mucous membrane , through open cuts or sores, or by direct injection .

People with HIV who take HIV medicine as prescribed and get and keep an undetectable viral load can live long and healthy lives and will not transmit HIV to their HIV-negative partnersthrough sex.

Stigma And Discrimination Are At The Core Of Heightened Hiv Risk For Trans People

Transgender people are put at increased risk of HIV not because of any inherent quality about being trans, but because of how our society marginalizes transgender people.

• Transgender people face intense stigma, discrimination, social rejection, and exclusion from many areas of life, including health care, education, employment, and housing.
• Transgender people also face high rates of incarceration, mental health issues, and violence.
• Of the 2% of students who identify as transgender, 35% have been bullied at school, and 35% have attempted suicide.
• Transgender people have higher rates of activities that might put them at risk for HIV, though many of these are ways of coping with societal rejection, including sex without condoms, commercial sex work, and drug use.

Another huge problem transgender people face is insensitivity and ignorance to transgender issues in the health field. Doctors who misgender, mistreat, and cast blame on transgender people can traumatize their trans patients. In one survey, 19% of transgender people said they were refused medical care because of their gender identity, while 28% had been harassed in a doctors office. This can lead to poorer health outcomes and limited health care access for transgender peopleand can deter them from seeking health care altogether.

Often, the problems facing transgender people compound and end up heightening risk for HIV acquisition. Transgender people are much more likely to acquire HIV if they:

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Hiv And African American Gay And Bisexual Men

Black/African Americana gay, bisexual, and other men who reported male-to-male sexual contact b,c are more affected by HIV than any other group in the United States and dependent areas. d In 2018, Black/African American gay and bisexual men accounted for 26% of the 37,968 new HIV diagnoses and 37% of new diagnoses among all gay and bisexual men. e

Hiv Risk And Health Factors Shared By All Lgbtq People

LGBTQ people experience intimate partner violence, just as people in straight relationships do. And, as in any relationship, violence is tied to a heightened risk of contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted infections , specifically because partners who are living in a violent relationship are often unable to negotiate terms of sexual encounters, including if and how protection is used.

In a 2006 survey of LGBTQ people in abusive relationships, 41% of respondents said they had been forced by their partners to have sex, while 28% said they were scared to ask their abusive partners to use protection during intercourse. Several participants reported sexual , physical , and vocal abuse after asking a partner to use protection.

Our cultural understanding of domestic violence is often exclusively in male-female relationships, with men abusing women. However, LGBTQ people can experience unhealthy power dynamics in their relationships as well. Researchers have found that gay and bisexual men who are survivors of domestic violence often exhibit similar outcomes to women who experience domestic violence, including having lower incomes, being unemployed, experiencing depression, and using substances.

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There Are Already A Lot Of Gay And Bi Kiwis Living With Hiv

In a recent Auckland study, 1 in 15 gay and bi guys were found to be living with HIV. So, if youre a guy hooking up with other guys, youre more likely to meet someone who is living with HIV.

It’s important to understand that having sex with someone living with HIV isn’t the issue – because if they know they’re living with the virus, chances are high that they’re on treatment and have an undetectable viral load. This means HIV can’t pass on through sex. If they don’t have an undetectable viral load, you can protect yourself by using condoms or taking PrEP.

According to that same study mentioned above, theres a 20 percent chance that a person living with HIV in Aotearoa doesnt know it yet. This is where the risk of HIV transmission lies, and is why it’s so important to protect yourself with condoms and PrEP.

In 5 Gay/bi Men Have Hiv Nearly Half Dont Know

CDC Study Shows Gay/Bisexual African-Americans, Young Adults Least Aware of HIV Status

Black gay/bi men and under-30 gay/bi adults are least likely to know of their HIV infections.

The findings show that HIV infection rates remain strikingly high among gay and bisexual men, says Kevin Fenton, MD, PhD, director of the CDCs center for HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis, STD, and TB prevention.

The number of new HIV infections each year is increasing among men who have sex with men , while remaining stable or decreasing in other groups, Fenton said in a statement. Currently, MSM account for nearly half of the more than 1 million people living with HIV in the United States.

To get these numbers, CDC teams visited bars, dance clubs, and other venues frequented by gay and bisexual men in the 21 cities with the highest number of AIDS cases. They interviewed 8,153 self-identified gay and bisexual men who agreed to undergo HIV testing.

The findings:

• 19% of the men tested positive for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
• 28% of black, 18% of Hispanic, and 16% of white men tested positive for HIV.
• 44% of the men who tested positive for HIV had been unaware of their infection.
• 59% of black, 46% of Hispanic, and 26% of white men who tested positive for HIV were unaware of their infection.
• 63% of the HIV-positive men age 18-29 were unaware of their infection.

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How Homelessness Among Lgbtq People Ties In To Hiv

Homelessness is a major risk factor for acquiring HIV. People who experience homelessness are not only at a much higher risk for acquiring HIV, they are also much less likely to receive HIV medical treatment, and they have worse health outcomes than people with HIV who have housing.

Unfortunately, LGBTQ peopleespecially LGBTQ youthare much more likely to experience homelessness than the general population. LGBTQ youth are 120% more likely to experience homelessness than their cisgender, straight counterparts. And though LGBTQ people do not comprise 40% of the population, LGBTQ youth comprise 40% of all homeless youth.

LGBTQ homeless youth experience many other hardships that are considered risk factors for acquiring HIV, including poor mental health, minority stress, substance use, unprotected sex, and survival sex.

Within the LGBTQ youth population, a persons identity can affect how they experience homelessness and the factors that lead to homelessness. For instance:

Homelessness among young gay and bisexual men has been connected with a greater lifetime risk for HIVmeaning the risk extends much longer than their period of homelessness. Young gay and bisexual men who run away from home engage in oral and anal sex on average one year younger than non-runaway young gay and bisexual men. They are also more likely to experience forced sexual contact, get diagnosed with an STI, and use drugs, including injection drugs.

How Is Hiv Spread

In the United States, HIV is spread mainly by:

• Having sex with someone who has HIV. In general:
• Anal sex is the highest-risk sexual behavior. Receptive anal sex is riskier than insertive anal sex .
• Vaginal sex is the second highest-risk sexual behavior.
• Having many sex partners or having other STDs can increase the chances of getting HIV through sex.

Less commonly, HIV may be spread by:

• Oral sex. The chances of getting HIV through oral sex are much less than from anal or vaginal sex. Learn more about oral sex and HIV risk.

Learn more ways HIV is transmitted

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Trends In Hiv And Hiv Prevention Indicators In Gay Bisexual And Other Men Who Have Sex With Men In Nsw 2015

This report provides a detailed overview of trends in HIV diagnoses and HIV prevention indicators in gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men during the NSW HIV Strategy 2016-2020, with analyses based on data available to the end of 2019.

The purpose of this report is to provide an understanding of current trends in HIV in GBMSM in NSW, and to suggest new directions for prevention initiatives in the context of ongoing work by the NSW Ministry of Health to develop a new 5-year HIV strategy. The NSW HIV Strategy 2016-2020 had a highly ambitious goal to virtually eliminate HIV transmission in NSW by 2020. This report highlights enormous progress towards this goal, such that in some sub-populations the goal of virtual elimination is in reach. In addition, it highlights populations where increased focus is required.

Causes Of Hiv Risk In Black Msm

The causes of the disparity in Black MSM are neither simple nor straightforward. The knee-jerk response may be to assume that sexual practices paired with cultural attitudes are the sole factors that place Black MSM at such exceptionally high risk.

But, the simple fact is that Black MSM are at the epicenter of numerous intersecting vulnerabilities that, together, compound their risk of infection.

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Causes Of Increased Risk

Understanding the stark differences in lifetime HIV risk is not always easy. The common, knee-jerk response might be to conclude, dispassionately, that sexual practices paired with cultural attitudes and behavior are the sole factors that place gay black men at such profoundly high risk.

But the simple fact is that gay black men in the U.S. sit in the epicenter of numerous intersecting vulnerabilities, which together make infection all but inevitable in certain individuals.

From a broader social perspective, it is known that any epidemicbe it HIV or any other communicable diseasetends to strike groups that are stigmatized well in advance of the disease event. This happens because there are generally few systems in place to intervene, either medically and legally, and often little interest to act from those outside the stigmatized population.

We saw this in the early part of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, when gay men, just emerging from an era of police abuse and judicial apathy, were hit by a wave of infections with no means to stop it, There was nothing in the way of gay health services or advocacy groups to combat inaction on either the state or federal level.

So, with deaths rising from the hundreds to thousands, the gay community took it upon themselves , to mount their own healthcare services and civil action groups .

Its a vicious cycle that only further stigmatizes gay black men while fueling the already high new infection rate.

Are Some Regions Of The United States More Impacted By Hiv Than Others

Yes. HIV is largely an urban disease, with most cases occurring in metropolitan areas with 500,000 or more people. The South has the highest number of people living with HIV, but if population size is taken into account, the Northeast has the highest rate of people living with HIV.

*Rates per 100,000 people. Includes adults, adolescents, and children under the age of 13.

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Gay Or Bisexual Black Men Have 50 Percent Risk Of Hiv

The average American has just a 1 percent risk of ever being infected with the AIDS virus, but gay and bisexual black men have a 50 percent risk, according to new federal data.

A quarter of Latino gay and bisexual men will be infected over their lifetimes, the new analysis from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds.

And by region, the South, from Texas to Florida, has a higher rate of HIV infection than the rest of the country.

Gay and bisexual men continue to be most affected by HIV in the U.S. At current rates, one in six men who have sex with men will be diagnosed with HIV in their lifetime, making them 79 times more likely than heterosexual men to be diagnosed with HIV in their lifetimes, the CDC team led by Kristen Hess reported.

People who inject drugs are also at increased risk.

The report, released at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Boston, is the first to take a look at any given persons lifetime risk of becoming infected with the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS.