Where Is Hiv Most Prevalent

Key Points: Hiv Diagnoses

Gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men b are the population most affected by HIV in the U.S.:

• MSM accounted for 69% of new HIV diagnoses in the United States.c
• From 2015 through 2019 in the United States and 6 dependent areas, Black/African American MSM accounted for more than 36% and White MSM accounted for more than 30% of HIV diagnoses among MSM annually.
• In 2019, Black/African American MSM accounted for 26% of new HIV diagnoses and 37.9% of diagnoses among all MSM.
• In 2019, Hispanic/Latinod MSM made up 22% of new HIV diagnoses and 32.5% of diagnosis among all MSM.

The number of HIV diagnoses decreased among MSM overall, but trends varied by race/ethnicity. From 2015 through 2019:

• Among MSM aged 1324 years, HIV diagnoses decreased or were stable among all racial/ethnic groups.
• HIV diagnoses increased among American Indian/Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander MSM, ages 24 and older.

Transgender people accounted for approximately 2% of new HIV diagnoses in 2019.

• From 2015 through 2019 in the United States and 6 dependent areas, the number of diagnoses of HIV infection for transgender adults and adolescents increased.
• In 2019, among transgender adults and adolescents, the largest percentage of diagnoses of HIV infections was for transgender male-to-female people.

Blacks/African Americans and Hispanics/Latinx continue to be severely and disproportionately affected by HIV:

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

Many federal programs are available to assist people of color who are living with HIV. The Health Resources and Services Administrations Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program provides a comprehensive system of HIV primary medical care, medications, and essential support services for low-income people living with HIV who are uninsured and underserved. More than half the people diagnoses with HIV in the U.S. receive services through RWHAP each year.

The Program serves a diverse population. Of the more than half a million clients served by RWHAP, nearly three-quarters of them are from racial and ethnic minority populations, with 47.1 percent of clients identifying as black/African American and 23.2 percent identifying as Hispanic/Latino.

For information about HIV care outcomes for racial and ethnic clients and other served by the RWHAP program, see these fact sheets:

Men Who Have Sex With Men

Gay or bisexual MSM are the most severely affected population. MSM account for just a small fraction of the total U.S. population, yet nearly two-thirds of all new infections occurred within this group in 2009, and one-half of all people living with HIV in 2008 were MSM. MSM within ethnic minority populations are at greatest risk .

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Hiv In The Middle East: Low Prevalence But Not Low Risk

UNAIDS has estimated that around 270,000 people are living with HIV in the Middle East and North Africa region, an overall HIV prevalence of 0.1 percent among adults ages 15 to 49, and one of the lowest rates among world regions.1 But other figures reveal a different picture. Between 2001 and 2012, the number of adults and children living with HIV in MENA increased by 73 percent and the number of new infections grew by 52 percentthe highest rates of increase among world regions .2

Percentage Change in the Annual Number of New HIV Infections by World Region, 2001-2012

UNAIDS, Global Report: UNAIDS Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic 2013 : Annex: Epidemiology.

Hiv And Aids: An Origin Story

When HIV first began infecting humans in the 1970s, scientists were unaware of its existence. Now, more than 35 million people across the globe live with HIV/AIDS. The medical community, politicians and support organizations have made incredible progress in the fight against this formerly unknown and heavily stigmatized virus. Infection rates have fallen or stabilized in many countries across the world, but we have a long way to go.

Image via aids.gov. The WHO estimates that 97 percent of the world’s HIV positive population lives in low income nations where anti-viral treatments are scarce or unavailable.

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Hiv And Women In Africa

In SSA, women bear the brunt of the HIV epidemic . In 2011, 92% of pregnant women who were HIV positive were living in this region . Most countries in SSA report the state of the epidemic based on their ante-natal surveillance data with limited data on HIV incidence due to the difficulty in accurately measuring HIV incidence rates. A number of studies conducted among non-pregnant women in parts of east and southern Africa suggest prevalence rates ranging from 14.5% in east Africa to 38.7% in Lusaka and 39.5% in Durban, South Africa . There have been reports of a decline or stabilizing in HIV prevalence among women in southern Africa . However, HIV incidence data from large scale clinical trials and cohort studies suggests that the low prevalence masks high HIV incidence rates . Risk factor analysis of these cohorts of women from various HIV prevention trials suggest that being under the age of 25 years, having had one sexually transmitted infection in the past and being unmarried were significantly associated with high risk of HIV seroconversion . Rehle et al. substantiated these results in the 2013 Human Sciences Research Council household survey which showed that being young and unmarried increased the risk of HIV acquisition among South African women .

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:

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Hiv Testing And Your Rights

Testing for HIV is voluntary and can only be done with your informed consent, except in exceptional circumstances.

Before you are tested, you will be provided with information about what is involved. what the results might mean for you, and how to prevent HIV transmission in the future. All people who request an HIV test must receive this information from the test provider.

Under Australian and Victorian law, it is unlawful to discriminate against anyone who has HIV. Test results, and details on whether someone has been tested are strictly confidential. It is illegal for any information about a person being tested or a person with HIV to be disclosed without their permission.

A Note About Treatment

While theres currently no cure for HIV, treatments have come an incredibly long way since the virus was first identified. Due to advances in treatment, people living with HIV can have long, healthy lives.

There are now many types of antiretroviral drugs available to treat HIV. According to the National Institutes of Health , taking antiretroviral medications each day as directed can reduce viral load to undetectable levels in 6 months or less .

Not only can having an undetectable viral load keep the immune system healthy, but it can also prevent transmission of HIV to others. People with an undetectable viral load have no risk of transmitting HIV to their partners via sex.

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Is The World Making Progress In Its Fight Against Hiv/aids

The 1990s saw a substantial increase in the number of people infected with HIV and dying of AIDS.

Between 1996 and 2001 more than 3 million people were infected with HIV ever year. Since then the number of new infections began to decline and in 2017 it was reduced to below 2 million. The lowest number of new infections since 1990.

The number of AIDS-related deaths increased throughout the 1990s and reached a peak in 2005, 2006 when in both years close to 2 million people died. Since then the annual number of deaths from AIDS declined as well and was since halved. 2017 was the first year since the peak in which fewer than 1 million people died from AIDS.

The chart also shows the continuing increase in the number of people living with HIV. The rate of increase has slowed down compared to the 1990s, but the absolute number is at the highest ever with more than 36 million people globally living with HIV.

Appendix 1 Additional Detail Related To Canada’s Modelling Method

Reference: Yan, Ping Zhang, Fan and Wand, Handan . Using HIV Diagnostic Data to Estimate HIV Incidence: Method and Simulation. Statistical Communications in Infectious Diseases: Vol. 3: Iss. 1, Article 6.

The statistical modelling method that was used to estimate the number of new HIV infections in Canada is based on a back-calculation method that combines HIV and AIDS diagnostic data with data on the proportions of recent infections among newly diagnosed individuals . The model estimates the time trend in the number of past HIV infections, up until the present time since surveillance data can only record the date of diagnosis and not the date of infection . From this trend in past HIV infections, the model then projects forward to calculate the expected number of HIV diagnoses . The back-calculation method used for incidence estimation in Canada is similar to methods used in the European Union, the USA, and Australia.

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Hiv Strains And Types

KEY POINTS

• There are two main types of HIV HIV-1 and HIV-2 .
• Like many viruses, HIV has the ability to mutate and change over time – within the main types of HIV there are many genetically distinct subgroups.
• Tests to diagnose HIV and monitor the level of virus in the body that are sensitive to the full range of subtypes do exist, but may not be readily available in all settings.

Key Points: Hiv Incidence

HIV incidence declined 8% from 2015 to 2019. In 2019, the estimated number of HIV infections in the U.S. was 34,800 and the rate was 12.6 .

, the annual number of HIV infections in 2019, compared with 2015, decreased among persons aged 1324 and persons aged 45-54, but remained stable among all other age groups. In 2019, the rate was highest for persons aged 25-34 , followed by the rate for persons aged 35-44 .

, the annual number of HIV infections in 2019, compared with 2015, decreased among persons of multiple races, but remained stable for persons of all other races/ethnicities. In 2019, the highest rate was for Blacks/African American persons , followed by Hispanic/Latino persons and persons of multiple races .

, the annual number of new HIV infections in 2019, as compared to 2015, decreased among males, but remained stable among females. In 2019, the rate for males was 5 times the rate for females .

, the annual number of HIV infections in 2019, compared with 2015, decreased among males with transmission attributed to male-to-male sexual contact, but remained stable among all other transmission categories. In 2019, the largest percentages of HIV infections were attributed to male-to-male sexual contact

For more details on recent HIV incidence statistics, see Estimated HIV Incidence and Prevalence in the United States, 2015-2019.

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What Are Hiv And Aids

The human immunodeficiency virus is a virus that affects the immune system. It gradually destroys cells called CD4 cells, which usually help the body stay healthy by fighting off disease.

If HIV is not treated, most people will develop severe immune deficiency within 10 years. At this point, the body is no longer able to fight infection and stop cancer from developing. This late stage of HIV infection is called acquired immunodeficiency syndrome .

Spread Of Hiv In Mena

The first cases of AIDS in the MENA region were reported in mid-1980s. By 1990, every country had detected people living with HIV, the vast majority of these linked to HIV exposure abroad and through HIV-contaminated blood products or organ transplants. In the early 1990s, however, a new pattern of transmission emerged among key populations at greatest risk of infection. With the exception of South Sudan, parts of Somalia, and Djibouti where most HIV transmission is now taking place in the general population, HIV in MENA is concentrated in certain groups with behaviors that put them at a higher risk of infectionnamely, men who have sex with men, female sex workers, and people who inject drugs.

Today, the number of new infections is increasing in every MENA country, although the principal routes of transmission vary from one country to another . In Iran and Libya, for example, the majority of infections occur among people who inject drugs and their networks of sexual and injecting partners. On the other hand, in Djibouti, South Sudan, and parts of Somalia, HIV has spread through commercial sex networks.

Estimates of HIV Prevalence Among Key Populations in Selected MENA Countries

UNAIDS, Middle East and North Africa Regional Report on AIDS, 2011 and 2012 UNGASS Country Reports for Sudan and Yemen.

As for the regions key populations:

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How Do People Become Infected With Hiv

HIV is in the blood, semen, vaginal fluid and breast milk of an infected person. It can be spread by exposure to these body fluids by:

• unprotected anal or vaginal sex without a condom
• sharing drug injecting equipment
• tattooing, piercing and other procedures with unsterile needles or equipment
• transmission from mother to baby during pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding
• oral sex, although this is rare
• sharps injuries

It is important to remember that HIV is not spread through activities such as kissing, sharing cups and cutlery, normal social contact, toilet seats or mosquitoes.

You are at higher risk of HIV infection if:

• you are a man, a transgender woman or a person who identifies as gender diverse who has sex with men
• you have sex or share needles with someone else at risk of HIV
• you share sex toys
• you have sex with people from countries with a high rate of HIV infection
• you inject drugs
• you have had tattoos or other piercings overseas using unsterile equipment
• you have a sexually transmitted infection . People can be infected with several different STIs at the same time. Having an STI can make it easier to become infected with HIV and pass it on to sexual partners
• you have had a blood transfusion in a country where the blood supply is not safe

Some people are at a higher risk of HIV infection because they are exposed to more people with HIV infection and/or engage in more high-risk behaviour. These include:

Precision Public Health And Hiv

Country-level estimates of HIV prevalence, produced by both the Global Burden of Disease study and UNAIDS, highlight extensive differences in HIV prevalence between countries within sub-Saharan Africa. Further differences in HIV prevalence within national borders have long been recognized and recent evidence suggests that there is substantial within-country variation. Both GBD and UNAIDS estimate the prevalence of HIV at the first-level administrative subdivisions in select countries and a growing number of studies have examined subnational trends in the prevalence of HIV in a variety of locations and at various levels of granularity,,,,,,,, these studies consistently find extensive within-country geographical variation in HIV prevalence.

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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.