What Population Has The Highest Rate Of Hiv

Us States With The Highest Hiv

In the 1980s and 1990s, HIV and AIDS had suddenly risen from oblivion to become the an alarming cause of death across the entire globe. However, the rate of infection began to experience a steady decline, particularly in the United States, after the public got more information about the disease and ways of protection from infection. Despite the increased sensitization programs in recent years, Americans are still dying of HIV/AIDS. The recent data from Statista established the states in the US where AIDS-related deaths are still higher than the national average. The states of Louisiana and Florida had the largest number of AIDS-related deaths of any state in the US.

Hiv Statistics By State 2022

Human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, is a virus that weakens a persons immune system by attacking cells that fight off infection, specifically a persons CD4 cells. HIV is spread through body fluids such as blood. If HIV goes untreated and advances, it can lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome or AIDS. Unlike most other viruses, when a person contracts HIV, they have it for life because the human body cannot fight off the virus entirely. HIV, however, can be controlled and its progression can be slowed significantly. There are three stages of HIV: acute HIV infection, clinical latency , and AIDS.

The Ryan White Hiv/aids Program And Racial And Ethnic Minority Populations

The Health Resources and Services Administrationâs Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program provides a comprehensive system of HIV primary medical care, medications, and essential support services for low-income people with HIV who are uninsured and underserved. The program serves more than half a million each year, comprising 50 percent of people with HIV in the United States.

Nearly three-quarters of RWHAP clients are from racial and ethnic minority populations. The percentage distribution of client race/ethnicity populations has remained consistent since 2016. In 2020, approximately 47% of clients self-identified as Black/African American, 26% as White, 24% as Hispanic/Latino, and less than 2% each as American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, and people of multiple races. Further, in 2020, 89.4 percent of RWHAP clients receiving HIV medical care were virally suppressed, exceeding the national viral suppression average of 65.5 percent among all people with diagnosed HIV. This is a critical component of ending the HIV epidemic because 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 partners through sex.

To learn more about HIV care outcomes for racial and ethnic minority clients and others served by the RWHAP program, view the RWHAP 2020 Annual Client-Level Data Report.

Recommended Reading: How Do You Know If You Hiv

New Hiv Infection Rates

New HIV infection rates have dropped over the years. The world has seen a 52% reduction in new HIV infections since the epidemic peaked in 1997. In 1997, 3 million people reported new HIV infections, compared with only 2.1 million in 2010 and 1.5 million in 2020.

This is because people in resource-poor countries now have significantly improved access to HIV treatments. Preventing vertical transmission of HIV, which refers to when the infection passes from a birthing parent to their fetus, has also contributed to lowering transmission rates. Additionally, the medical community has added new HIV prevention tools and methods.

However, the unequal distribution of HIV treatment and prevention strategies still leaves many vulnerable populations behind. Important barriers to improving access to care include stigma, discrimination, social inequities, and exclusion.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, many people with HIV or at risk of HIV still did not have access to prevention, care, and treatment. The pandemic caused a greater disturbance in the distribution of health services in many countries. Some countries report a 75% disruption of HIV services.

According to UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, the benefits of providing HIV services outweigh the risk of dying from COVID-19.

HIV spreads through contact with bodily fluids from people who have the virus. Bodily fluids that carry HIV include:

It is not possible to contract HIV through:

• sharing foods or beverages

Effects Of Hiv/aids On Society

HIV/AIDS has far-reaching adverse effects on the economic, cultural, and social spheres of society. The epidemic drains the economy of the country as funds need to be diverted to treat the infected patients. It is also a great economic burden on individual families with HIV/AIDS as a significant portion of the income needs to be spent on treatment procedures. High prevalence of HIV/AIDS cripples the entire society and reduced the nation’s productivity.

Read Also: Can I Get Life Insurance With Hiv

What About Hiv Around The World

HIV disease continues to be a serious health issue for parts of the world. Worldwide, there were about 2.1 million new cases of HIV in 2015. About 36.7 million people are living with HIV around the world, and as of June 2016, 17 million people living with HIV were receiving medicines to treat HIV, called antiretroviral therapy . An estimated 1.1 million people died from AIDS-related illnesses in 2015. Sub-Saharan Africa, which bears the heaviest burden of HIV/AIDS worldwide, accounts for 65% of all new HIV infections. Other regions significantly affected by HIV/AIDS include Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

CDC’s Global AIDS websiteexplains what CDC is doing in the global fight against HIV.

The Global Distribution Of Deaths From Hiv/aids

In some countries HIV/AIDS is the cause of more than a quarter of all deaths

Globally, 1.5% of deaths were caused by HIV/AIDS in 2019.

This share is high, but masks the wide variations in the toll of HIV/AIDS across the world. In some countries, this share was much higher.In the interactive map we see the share of deaths which resulted from HIV/AIDS across the world. Across most regions the share was low: across Europe, for example, it accounted for less than 0.1% of deaths.

But across some countries focused primarily in Southern Sub-Saharan Africa the share is very high. More than 1-in-4 of deaths in South Africa were caused by HIV/AIDS in 2019. The share was also very high across Botswana Mozambique Namibia Zambia Kenya and Congo .

Death rates are high across Sub-Saharan Africa

The large health burden of HIV/AIDS across Sub-Saharan Africa is also reflected in death rates. Death rates measure the number of deaths from HIV/AIDS per 100,000 individuals in a country or region.

In the interactive map we see the distribution of death rates across the world. Most countries have a rate of less than 10 deaths per 100,000 often much lower, below 5 per 100,000. Across Europe the death rate is less than one per 100,000.

Across Sub-Saharan Africa the rates are much higher. Most countries in the South of the region had rates greater than 100 per 100,000. In South Africa and Mozambique, it was over 200 per 100,000.

You May Like: What Percent Of Gay People Have Hiv

Hiv Testing And Counselling In Latin America And The Caribbean

In 2017, 77% of people living with HIV in Latin America and 73% of people living with HIV in the Caribbean were aware of their status.40

Different approaches to testing are being taken in the region to increase the number of people who are aware of their status. Around a third of LAC countries that offer testing services within flexible hours, are generally provided by civil society organisations .41

HIV self-tests are available in the Bahamas, Brazil, El Salvador, Jamaica, Peru, and Trinidad and Tobago. However, as of 2017, most governments were yet to document their use, provide them at subsidised cost, or use this method to expand testing to people from key populations, whose need is significantly greater due to the concentrated nature of the epidemic.42

An exception is Brazil, which introduced self-testing kits in 2015. These kits were made available free of charge from pharmacies, medication distribution centres, health services and government health programmes, as well as through the mail. The oral self-testing kits feature clear instructions and a telephone helpline.43

Just under two-thirds of countries in the region offer testing in community centres. Argentina, Dominica, Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico and Paraguay allow HIV testing to be done by trained individuals who are not health professionals.44

Tracking The Spread Of Hiv

The oldest HIV-1M sequences that have been analyzed were sampled in 1959 and 1960 from individuals in Central Africa and appear to be quite closely related to ancestral subtype A and D viruses. Although all HIV-1M subtypes have been identified in the DRC and Cameroon, subtype A dominates in the DRC, and CRF02_AG dominates in Cameroon . This AG recombinant, and subtypes A1 and G, are very successful in Western Africa where they today collectively dominate the epidemics in Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Mali, and Cote dIvoire .

Outside of West Africa, East Africa has the oldest epidemic that is driven primarily by infections with subtypes A and D and their derived recombinants. Subtype A was likely to have entered East Africa some time shortly after 1950, with subtype D being introduced about ten years later . Today, subtype A dominates in Kenya , whereas both subtypes A and D have emerged in Uganda . Tanzania, which lies between the subtype A/D epidemic on its northern border and the subtype C epidemic on its southern border, is a melting pot of subtype A, C, and, to a lesser extent, D infections and various recombinant forms. Subtype C accounts for almost all infections in southern Africa.

Recommended Reading: When Can Hiv Not Be Passed From Mother To Infant

New Orleans Louisiana 369

An excess of 19,000 people in Louisiana are living with HIV. More than half of those people have AIDS, according to GetTested.com. Although African-Americans make up only 32 percent of the state population, they represented 73 percent of the states new cases in 2011, according to the Louisiana Department of Health. The LDH urges Louisianians to get tested. If people with HIV have the virus diagnosed early, they are able to receive treatment and care early enough to delay the onset of AIDS, LDH Office of Publish Health Assistant Secretary J.T. Lane says in a press release.

The Status Of The Hiv/aids Epidemic In Sub

Senior Fellow, Futures Group International

Focus Area

Despite the fact that sub-Saharan Africa contains only about 11 percent of the Earths population, the region is the worlds epicenter of HIV/AIDS. The numbers are daunting. Adult HIV prevalence is 1.2 percent worldwide , but it is 9.0 percent in sub-Saharan Africa. UNAIDS estimates that at the end of 2001, there were 40 million people living with HIV/AIDS, 28.5 million of them from sub-Saharan African. Five million adults and children became newly infected with HIV in 2001, 3.5 million of them from sub-Saharan Africa. Three million people died from AIDS-related causes in 2001, and 2.2 million of these deaths were among sub-Saharan Africans.2

AIDS is now the leading cause of death in sub-Saharan Africa. Life expectancy at birth has plummeted in many African countries, wiping out the gains made since independence. The combination of high birth rates and high AIDS mortality among adults, including many parents, has meant that more than 90 percent of children who have been orphaned as a consequence of the HIV/AIDS epidemic are in this region.2

According to UNAIDS, all the worst affected countries are contiguous to one another in the lower part of the continent. These include South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe have prevalence rates above 30 percent.4

Read Also: How Long Do Hiv Symptoms Last

Don’t Miss: How Long Before Hiv Symptoms Show

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

Of the estimated 38.4 million people living with HIV worldwide in 2021, 2.73 million were children aged 019. Each day in 2021, approximately 850 children became infected with HIV and approximately 301 children died from AIDS related causes, mostly because of inadequate access to HIV prevention, care and treatment services.

As of 2021, roughly 14.9 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 650,000 people who died of AIDS-related illnesses in 2021, 110,000 of them were children under 20 years of age.

Global trends

In 2021, around 160,000 children aged 09 were newly infected with HIV, bringing the total number of children aged 09 living with HIV to 1.02 million . Nearly 86 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 09 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 40 per cent.

Geographic disparity

Efforts Towards Reducing Hiv/aids Prevalence

Countries with the highest rates of HIV infection have taken several measures towards reducing the rate of infection among the population. Awareness programs are conducted to educate the public about HIV/AIDS. Antiretroviral therapies have been provided at low costs to treat HIV positive patients. Pregnant women who test positive for HIV are monitored strictly to prevent mother-to-child transmission of the infection. Other remedial measures have also been implemented to curb HIV/AIDS in these countries.

Recommended Reading: Where Did Hiv Aids Come From

List Of Countries By Hiv/aids Adult Prevalence Rate

The human immunodeficiency virus , which causes AIDS, varies in prevalence from nation to nation. Listed here are the prevalence rates among adults in various countries, based on data from various sources, largely the CIA World Factbook.

As of 2018, 38 million people are estimated infected with HIV globally.

The HIV pandemic is most severe in Southern Africa. Over 10% of all people infected with HIV/AIDS reside within the region. Adult HIV prevalence exceeds 15% in Eswatini, Botswana, and Lesotho, while an additional six countries report adult HIV prevalence of at least 10%. Outside Africa, the highest prevalence rate is found in the Bahamas .

Hiv/aids Is One Of The Worlds Most Fatal Infectious Disease

Almost 1 million people die from HIV/AIDS each year in some countries its the leading cause of death

HIV/AIDS is one of the worlds most fatal infectious diseases particularly across Sub-Saharan Africa, where the disease has had a massive impact on health outcomes and life expectancy in recent decades.

The Global Burden of Disease is a major global study on the causes of death and disease published in the medical journal The Lancet.1 These estimates of the annual number of deaths by cause are shown here. This chart is shown for the global total, but can be explored for any country or region using the change country toggle.

In the chart we see that, globally, it is the second most fatal infectious disease.

According to the Global Burden of Disease study, almost one million people died from HIV/AIDS in 2017. To put this into context: this was just over 50% higher than the number of deaths from malaria in 2017.

Its one of the largest killers globally but for some countries particularly across Sub-Saharan Africa, its the leading cause of death. If we look at the breakdown for South Africa, Botswana or Mozambique which you can do on the interactive chart we see that HIV/AIDS tops the list. For countries in Southern Sub-Saharan Africa, deaths from HIV/AIDS are more than 50% higher than deaths from heart disease, and more than twice that of cancer deaths.

You May Like: Can You Get Hiv From Spit

How Common Is Hiv In The Uk

The most recent estimate suggests there were 106,890 people living with HIV in the UK in 2019. Of these, around 5,150 are undiagnosed so do not know they are HIV positive.

London continues to have the highest rates of HIV in England: 37% of new diagnoses in 2020 were in London residents. In 2019, 38% of people seen for HIV care were living in London.

Anyone can get HIV but people from some groups or parts of the world are more likely to be affected. In particular, men who have sex with men and black African people are disproportionately affected.

Of the 4,139 people diagnosed with HIV in the UK in 2019, 41% were gay or bisexual men.

Of the 1,559 heterosexual people diagnosed with HIV in 2019, 37% were black African men and women.

In 2017, the overall mortality rate for people aged 15-59 who were diagnosed early was, for the first time, equal to that of the general population for the same age group.

Boxed Warning: Risk Of Drug Resistance With Use Of Descovy For Prep In Undiagnosed Early Hiv1 Infection And Post

• DESCOVY FOR PrEP must be prescribed only to individuals confirmed to be HIV negative immediately prior to initiation and at least every 3 months during use. Drug-resistant HIV-1 variants have been identified with use of emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate for HIV-1 PrEP following undetected acute HIV-1 infection. Do not initiate if signs or symptoms of acute HIV-1 infection are present unless HIV-negative status is confirmed
• Severe acute exacerbations of hepatitis B have been reported in individuals infected with hepatitis B virus who discontinued products containing FTC and/or TDF and may occur with discontinuation of DESCOVY®. Closely monitor hepatic function with both clinical and laboratory follow-up for at least several months in individuals with HBV who discontinue DESCOVY. If appropriate, anti-hepatitis B therapy may be warranted

Don’t Miss: Do Hearing Aids Help Tinnitus