AIDS Awareness Unimproved, Risk Remains High for Gays and African Americans

National Black AIDS Awareness Day just passed on February 7, but ironically, according to recently released data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), "awareness" is the one thing the organization has failed to improve in the U.S. this past year.

According to the CDC, African Americans make up only 12 percent of the U.S. population, but made up nearly half of all new HIV infections in the United States in 2010. This was in-part due to the fact that nearly 17 percent of African Americans who were living with HIV remained unaware they had it. Similarly, 23 percent of infected African Americans who did receive a diagnosis received it in the last stage of the disease, missing the chance to get early medical care. Those who were diagnosed late often had already and unknowingly spread the disease to others.

Because of these alarming numbers in 2010, the CDC began to set annual targets for the reduction of HIV risk and spread that will aid the African American community in the U.S. in particular.  This past year, the CDC met an encouragingly large number of these goals. Most notably, they reduced the rate of late stage HIV diagnoses down to under 25 percent, and managed to reduce the number of new HIV cases among all U.S. citizens by more than one fourth.

Still, the majority of targets missed this past year have everything to do with the most important factor, awareness. According to the data, only 75 percent of at-risk African American communities have access or are aware of access to HIV medical care. Hispanics and Latinos missed this target as well, with only 81 percent having access to appropriate care.

Worse yet, infection rates in gay and bisexual communities have remained well above their intended  targets, with over 31,400 infections alone in the past year; that's over 66 percent of the year's total number of infections.

This is particularly poor news for the African American community, where it is estimated that the majority of reported HIV cases are among men who have sex with men (MSM). There is a chance many of these men are closeted homosexuals, who can potentially bring HIV home to their wifes or girlfriends.

The CDC explains the best way to prevent the continued spread of HIV/Aids in the U.S. is through awareness. Education and early access to treatments are key in the fight against these troubling numbers.

The Nation HIV Prevention Progress Report is published annually by the CDC.