How Many Americans Have Hiv

The Future Of Hiv In The Usa

The United States will become a place where new HIV infections are rare, and when they do occur, every person, regardless of age, gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, or socio-economic circumstance, will have unfettered access to high quality, life-extending care, free from stigma and discrimination.

– The US National HIV/AIDS Strategys mission statement144

In order to break the cycle of transmission among key affected populations, increasing the impact of targeted HIV prevention and treatment campaigns towards people in these groups is vital. Expanding access and uptake to HIV testing, and increasing the number of people who are aware of their status and who are using condoms, will also go a long way to controlling the epidemic in the USA.

However, unless the complex set of economic and socio-economic factors that drive these groups risks to HIV are addressed including discrimination, stigma and poverty it is likely that HIV will continue to disproportionately affect men who have sex with men, African Americans/black people, Latino/Hispanic men, transgender women, prisoners and people who use drugs.

In addition, the rollback of certain LGBTI rights and inadequate sex education may support HIV-related stigma, already so damaging to Americas HIV response, grow and thrive.

Hiv And Tuberculosis In South Africa

South Africa has the world’s sixth largest tuberculosis epidemic, and the disease is the leading cause of death in the country.120 South Africas HIV epidemic fuels the TB epidemic because people living with HIV are at a far higher risk of developing TB due to weakened immune systems. It is estimated that 60% of people living with HIV in South Africa are also co-infected with TB. In 2017 there were 193,000 new cases of TB among people living with HIV and 56,000 people living with HIV died due to a TB-related illness.121

In light of this, the South African National AIDS council combined the HIV and STI strategy with the national TB strategy to improve the integration of these two services. One of the aims of this strategy is to get more people living with HIV on isoniazid preventative therapy , a preventative medicine for TB.122 But as of 2017, only around half of people living with HIV in the country had access to IPT.123

The TB treatment success rate has improved in recent years, and stood at 83% in 2016.124

We cannot fight AIDS unless we do much more to fight TB.

Hiv Infections By State

In the United States, where you live plays a large part in how likely you are to get HIV. While it is clear that dense urban populations with high prevalence rates contribute to the risk, there are other unique factors that account for a growing disparity between U.S. states.

A prime example is the rate of infection in states that have either adopted or refused Medicaid expansion, intended to expand healthcare to economically disadvantaged people.

According to the CDC, the 13 states that refused Medicaid expansion account for 42% of all new infections. Florida, Texas, Georgia, and North Carolina represent the lion’s share of these infections.

Poverty remains a driving force for HIV infections, particularly in the South where the rates of poverty are highest. Moreover, nearly half of all Americans without health insurance live in the South.

With that being said, the Northeast has a higher prevalence rate overall, centered mainly in dense urban populations like New York City, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C.

These dynamics are reflected in the 10 U.S. states with the highest HIV prevalence rates, according to the CDC.

Youth also accounts for the highest rate of undiagnosed infections. Today, nearly half of all HIV-positive youth between the ages of 13 and 24 are unaware of their status and, as a result, are more likely to infect others. The picture is little improved among adults 25 to 34, where one in three remains undiagnosed.

You May Like: How Does Art Work For Hiv

Condom Availability And Use

One of key requirements for health departments receiving previous CDC prevention funding was to establish and maintain condom distribution programmes for people with HIV and people at high risk of acquiring it. Between 2012 and 2014, the most recent data available, these types of programmes distributed over 248 million condoms.69

Despite this, CDC reports a long-term decline in condom use among men who have sex with men from as early as 2005 . In 2016, it was reported that the greatest increase in sex without condoms was seen in young men, aged 18 to 24.70

Funding For The Hiv Response In The Usa

Funding for the HIV response has increased significantly over the course of the epidemic. Primarily, this growth has been driven by increased spending on mandatory domestic care and treatment programmes, as more people are living with HIV in the USA, as well as by greater investments to combat HIV in low and middle-income countries.135

The USAs domestic HIV budget includes funding for HIV care, housing support, HIV prevention and research.136 In May 2017, President Trump released his first federal budget request for the 2018 financial year, which included an estimated US $32 billion for combined domestic and global HIV efforts. The proposal signalled a decrease in funding for HIV of US $834 million, or 2.5%. Most of the cuts were made to the USAs global spending for the HIV response . Domestic discretionary programmes faced a US $789 million or 10% reduction, although mandatory funding was set to increase.137 The budget was rejected by Congress and spending remained at levels similar to the 2017 financial year.138

President Trumps proposed budget for the 2019 financial year, submitted in February 2018, again suggested spending cuts. This includes cutting US $40 million from CDCs HIV prevention programme, and US $26 million from a federal housing programme for people living with AIDS. It also includes cutting global HIV programmes by US $1 billion.139 However, this was rejected by Congress.140

Recommended Reading: Can You Get Hiv From Having Sex One Time

Although Strides Have Been Made In The Hiv Response Children Are Still Affected By The Epidemic

Of the estimated 38.0 million people living with HIV worldwide in 2020, 2.78 million were children aged 0-19. Each day in 2020, approximately 850 children became infected with HIV and approximately 330 children died from AIDS related causes, mostly because of inadequate access to HIV prevention, care and treatment services.

As of 2020, roughly 15.4 million children under the age of 18 had lost one or both parents to AIDS-related causes. Millions more have been affected by the epidemic, through a heightened risk of poverty, homelessness, school dropout, discrimination and loss of opportunities, as well as COVID-19. These hardships include prolonged illness and death. Of the estimated 680,000 people who died of AIDS-related illnesses in 2020, 120,000 of them were children under 20 years of age.

Global trends

In 2020, around 160,000 children aged 0-9 were newly infected with HIV, bringing the total number of children aged 0-9 living with HIV to 1.03 million . Nearly 90 per cent of these children live in sub-Saharan Africa. One bright spot on the global horizon is the rapid decline of approximately 52 per cent in new HIV infections among children aged 0-9 since 2010 due to stepped-up efforts to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV. However, the number of new HIV infections among adolescents has declined at a slower rate of about 38 per cent.

Geographic disparity

Hiv Prevention Programmes In The Usa

In 2017, an estimated 38,700 people became newly infected with HIV.66

In an attempt to advance high-impact HIV prevention across the USA, between 2012 and 2017, CDC created a new prevention fund cycle for US $339 million. Grants were awarded to health departments that could demonstrate they were providing HIV prevention services to those with the greatest need. Services also had to show they used combined behavioural, medical and structural HIV prevention strategies.67

In 2019, CDC announced a new 10-year plan to end the HIV epidemic. The programme aims to reduce new HIV infections by 75% in five years and by 90% in 10 years. It focuses on Washington, D.C., San Juan , 48 counties and seven states that have a substantial rural HIV burden. Its key components are described as being diagnose, treat, protect, and respond the latter two components relate to HIV prevention. Protect relates to using evidence-based prevention interventions, while respond relates to detecting and responding to growing HIV clusters to disrupt chains of transmission, thereby preventing new infections.68

Don’t Miss: How To Know You Have Hiv

Hiv In The United States

Based on the most recent information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , about 1.14 million Americans had HIV at the end of 2016. About 1 in 7 of those with the virus are unaware that they have it.

In 2018, 37,832 people received an HIV diagnosis, according to the CDC. Among those, 42% were black or African American, 27% were Hispanic or Latino, and 25% were white. Also among the new diagnoses, 69% were among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men 24% were among heterosexuals, and 7% were among people who inject drugs.

In the United States, there are five categories of laws pertaining to HIV and other STDs. As of 2018, 26 states have HIV-specific laws that criminalize behaviors that can potentially expose another person to HIV.

States with the Highest Rates of HIV

These numbers are based on the CDCs HIV Surveillance Report.

California has the highest number of people living with HIV of 128,153, a rate of 389.7 people with HIV per 100,000 residents. Of those living with HIV in California, the largest group is White with 48,155 people and the second-largest is Hispanic/Latino with 48,029.

New York has the second-highest number of people living with HIV of 126,495, a rate of 760.2 per 100,000. This rate is more than double that of Californias. The largest group living with HIV in New York is Black/African American with 47,164 people living with the virus.

Here are the 10 states with the highest rates of HIV:

Funding For Hiv In Eswatini

The largest contributor of funding for Eswatinis HIV response is PEPFAR, providing 59% of total resources in 2017/18. This is followed by the Eswatini government and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis .117

Eswatini received approximately US$146.5 million from international donors in 2017, with the health sector the largest beneficiary of external assistance. The procurement of ARVs alone accounted for nearly US$19 million in 2017/18. Due to test and treat, the budget for this has increased to more than US$21 million for 2018/19. Despite economic challenges, domestic expenditure on HIV is set to increase from US$23 million in 2017/18 to $25 million in 2018/19.118

Eswatini has set ambitious targets to eliminate new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths by 2023, which means that finding sustainable financing for its HIV response is now a key priority, particularly as international funding is likely to reduce. The countrys 2018-2023 HIV strategy states that it is looking to shift focus to internal resource mobilisation while investing in interventions that have the greatest impact.119

You May Like: Is It Possible To Transmit Hiv When Undetectable

Men Who Have Sex With Men

Men who have sex with men are the group most affected by HIV in the USA, accounting for an estimated 2% of the population, but 66% of new annual HIV infections.13 At the end of 2015, the most recent data available, around 632,300 USA-based men who have sex with men were living with HIV. One in six of these people were unaware they were HIV positive.14

Between 2010 and 2016, new HIV infections among men who have sex with men remained stable at about 26,000 a year.15 However, trends vary greatly by age and ethnicity. For example, new infections among African American/black men who have sex with men remained stable overall, at about 10,000 new infections but they increased by 65% among those aged 25 to 34 . Among Latino and Hispanic men who have sex with men, new infections rose by around 30%, from 6,400 to 8,300. Again, the greatest rise was among 25 to 34-year-olds, where new infections increased by 68%. Among white men who have sex with men, new infections decreased to less than a-fifth overall, from 8,000 to 6,700.16

In 2016, it was estimated that, if current diagnosis rates continued, one in six American men who have sex with men would be diagnosed with HIV in their lifetime. This equates to one in two African American/black men who have sex with men, one in four Hispanic/Latino men who have sex with men and one in 11 white men who have sex with men.17

Hiv Diagnoses In Canada

How many people are newly diagnosed with HIV in Canada each year?

There were 2,122 HIV diagnoses in Canada in 2019. This represents a 4% increase over the past 5 years .

Among new HIV diagnoses in 2019 where sex was known , 30.2% were in females and 69.8% were in males.

Among the HIV diagnoses in adults where the likely exposure is known , 39.7% were in gbMSM, 28.3% were from heterosexual sex and 21.5% were in PWID in 2019.

Among females, 38.4% of HIV diagnoses were in women who injected drugs and 48.0% were from heterosexual sex in 2019.

Among males, 56.2% were in gbMSM, 4.8% were among gbMSM who also injected drugs, 14.6% were in men who injected drugs and 20.0% were from heterosexual sex in 2019.

Just over a quarter of all HIV diagnoses in males were in male youth in 2019. Just under a quarter of all HIV diagnoses in females were in female youth in 2019

Where are HIV diagnoses rates the highest?

There are four provinces with HIV diagnoses rates above the national average of 5.6 per 100,000 people in 2019:

• Saskatchewan
• Manitoba

• the territories

You May Like: Can You Get Hiv From Dried Blood

Cdc Says 11 Million Americans Infected With Hiv

By Will Dunham

4 Min Read

WASHINGTON – A new estimate of how many Americans have the AIDS virus puts the number at about 1.1 million, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday.

A tulip lays across names on the National AIDS memorial in San Francisco, California, December 1, 2007. REUTERS/Kimberly White

The CDC numbers, based on 2006 data, show the population living with HIV is growing as people become newly infected and as more patients survive thanks to HIV drugs.

The report also suggests that past estimates that more than 1 million Americans were living with HIV overstated the actual total number of people with HIV infections at the time.

The agency used different methods than it has in the past to calculate the number. Its most recent nationwide estimate of 1 million had been given for 2003, and using the new methods the CDC figured that 994,000 were living with HIV that year.

These data really show the continued impact that the epidemic is having on Americans, and they really reinforce the severe toll that is experienced in multiple communities, the CDCs Richard Wolitski said in a telephone interview.

The CDC report reinforced previous findings that the epidemic disproportionately affects blacks of both sexes as well as gay and bisexual men.

As the number of people living with HIV grows, so does the cost of providing medical services to this population and the burden on the U.S. health care system, Wolitski said.

Related Coverage

People With Diagnosed Hiv In The Us And Dependent Areas By Region Of Residence 2019*

*Rates per 100,000 people.

a American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, the Republic of Palau, and the US Virgin Islands.b In the 50 states and the District of Columbia.c The term male-to-male sexual contact is used in CDC surveillance systems. It indicates a behavior that transmits HIV infection, not how individuals self-identify in terms of their sexuality.d Includes infections attributed to male-to-male sexual contact and injection drug use .

Recommended Reading: How Long Do Hiv Results Take

How Many New Hiv Infections Are There In Canada Each Year

According to national HIV estimates, there were 2,242 new HIV infections in Canada in 2018. This means that for every 100,000 Canadians, six people became HIV positive in 2018 .

There was a small increase in the number of new HIV infections in 2018 compared with 2016, when there were an estimated 1,960 new HIV infections.

Hiv Among People Who Acquire Hiv Through Heterosexual Sex

How many people living with HIV in Canada acquired HIV through heterosexual sex?

According to national HIV estimates, 20,750 people living with HIV in Canada acquired HIV through heterosexual sex in 2018. This represents 33.4% of all people with HIV in Canada.

In 2016, the Public Health Agency of Canada separated heterosexual transmission into two categories those born in an HIV-endemic country and those born in a non HIV-endemic country . According to the Public Health Agency of Canada This separation is no longer considered appropriate, for reasons of increasing data incompleteness. The Public Health Agency of Canada is working with communities and with provinces and territories to find ways to better reflect the HIV situation in these communities.

The 2016 estimates that separate heterosexual transmission into these two categories can be found in the Summary: Estimates of HIV incidence, prevalence and Canadas progress on meeting the 90-90-90 HIV targets, 2016.

How many new HIV infections are acquired through heterosexual sex in Canada each year?

According to national HIV estimates, 761 new HIV infections in Canada were acquired through heterosexual sex in Canada in 2018. This represents 34.0% of all new HIV infections.

The 2016 estimates that separate heterosexual transmission into these two categories can be found in the Summary: Estimates of HIV incidence, prevalence and Canadas progress on meeting the 90-90-90 HIV targets, 2016.

Recommended Reading: Why No Vaccine For Hiv