HIV Surveillance Report 2014

Since the West African Ebola outbreak, the world of infectious disease hasn't seen a whole lot of good news. But a new surveillance data offers renewed clarification, hope, and focus.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the rate of HIV diagnosis decreased by 5.6 percent in the U.S. population from 2008 to 2012. Unfortunately, HIV diagnoses increased for adolescents, adults under the age of 30, and men who have sex with men. African Americans continue to represent a disproportionately large number of HIV infections, with 47 percent of all new diagnoses.

"This CDC data clearly tell us where we must focus HIV prevention efforts in the United States," says Wafaa El-Sadr, director of ICAP.

Released on November 5th, the 2012 HIV Surveillance Report analyzed data collected by local and state health departments from 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and six territories. At the end of 2011, approximately 1.1 million Americans were infected with HIV, 880,440 were living with diagnosed HIV, and roughly 18 percent of Americans are living with HIV but do not know it.

The populations most severely affected by HIV are African American men, who have the lowest rate of survival; men who have sex with men, who represent 64 percent of all new diagnoses; and young adults between the ages of 20 and 24, who accounted for the largest percentage of new cases of HIV.

"ICAP’s research in Harlem and the South Bronx, as well as the work by other Mailman faculty, is critical to understanding why these populations are at risk, and identifying new prevention approaches that work," says El-Sadr.