African American HIV and AIDS statistics

The statistics on HIV and AIDS in the USA clearly show that all races
are affected, but that ethnic minorities account for a disproportionate number
of cases in most states. African Americans are particularly severely affected by the virus, and relatively high rates of HIV can be found in virtually every sector of the community.

Men

The latest Centers for Disease Control report¹ on the US epidemic shows that in 2006, 73% of people diagnosed with AIDS were men. Within the African American population, men represent 64% of AIDS cases.

In the 50 states and the District of Columbia, an estimated 11,540 black men were diagnosed with AIDS in 2006, compared to 9,267 white men, 5,388 Hispanics, 423 Asian/Pacific Islanders and 118 Native Americans. This means that black men made up 43% of AIDS diagnoses in men during 2006.

The epidemic amongst black men can be divided into three broad categories – those who became infected through sex with other men, those who acquired HIV heterosexually, and those who became infected through sharing needles or drug works.

Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) accounted for 45% of black men living with AIDS at the end of 2006. Another 27% were probably infected through injecting drug use, and 19% through high-risk heterosexual sex. Some 8% of black men living with AIDS had both injected drugs and had sex with other men, and 1% were exposed via other or undetermined routes.

Recent preliminary data from a CDC investigation found that a staggering 46% of three groups of MSM tested were infected with HIV.² This suggests that nearly half of black men who have sex with men are infected, if these findings are representative of the whole country.

The rate of new infections in black men who have sex with men is also highly alarming. According to a CDC study³, between 2001 and 2004, MSM were newly infected at a rate of 69 infections for every 100,000 black men in the 33 states included in the study. This compares to 13.9 per 100,000 whites, 37.8 for Hispanics and 8.2 for Asians/Pacific Islanders. This makes black MSM the most at-risk group for HIV within the black population.

The rates of new infections in heterosexual men were lower, but still showed a very large disparity with other races: 35.5 per 100,000 blacks, compared to 1.1 for whites, 10.9 for Hispanics and 2.3 for Asians/Pacific Islanders.

Women

Women comprised 36% of all African Americans diagnosed with AIDS in 2006.⁴ Black women represented 66% of AIDS diagnoses in women in 2006, though just 12-13% of American women are black.

Of the black women living with AIDS at the end of 2006, 68% acquired their infection through heterosexual contact, 30% through injecting drug use, and 2% through other or undetermined routes.

Between 2001 and 2004, women were diagnosed with heterosexually-transmitted HIV at a rate of 58.3 per 100,000 black females.⁵ This compared to 2.2 for whites, 15 for Hispanics and 2.8 for Asians and Pacific Islanders.

All of these figures, plus disparities in health care access, mean that AIDS is now the leading cause of death among black women aged 25 to 34.⁶

Youth

Recent estimates have found that non-Hispanic blacks aged 19 to 24 years are around 20 times more likely to be infected with HIV than young adults in any other racial group.

The overall infection rate amongst young black adults is 4.9 per 1,000 people, compared to 0.22 per 1,000 people in all other racial groups.⁷

Children

Mother-to-child transmission rates are now very low in the US thanks to careful implementation of government prevention guidelines. However, of the few babies still born with HIV, many are black. Of the estimated 135 infants diagnosed in 2006, 93 (69%) were African American.⁸

Injecting drug users

Among African Americans living with AIDS at the end of 2006, around 27% had been exposed to HIV as Injecting Drug Users (IDUs). This compares to 13% among white people living with AIDS, and 25% among Hispanics.⁹

Between 2001 and 2004, black female IDUs were diagnosed with HIV at a rate of 14.2 per 100,000 compared to 1.0 for white, 4.8 for Hispanics and 0.6 for Asians / Pacific Islanders.¹⁰ Male IDUs were diagnosed at a rate of 26.9 per 100,000 compared to 1.7 for whites, 12 for Hispanics and 1.6 for Asian/Pacific Islanders. The problem is clearly more marked amongst back men than black women, but once again, both show the highest rates of HIV in the risk group studied.

Rural / urban populations

Once associated with urban areas in North-Eastern and Western states of the US, HIV is becoming an increasingly serious problem among black communities in poor rural areas of the Deep South of America.

In fifteen states, including eight in the South, more than half of the HIV+ population is black. In 2003, some 55% of new AIDS cases were diagnosed in Southern states. The most seriously affected of these is Maryland, where African Americans represent 80% of all AIDS cases, but just 27% of the population.

The highest proportional burden of AIDS amongst black people in America as a whole is found in the District of Colombia, where 82% of all cases are among black people. However, Washington DC’s population also contains the highest percentage of African Americans in the US at 57%.

The state with the lowest burden of AIDS in the black community is Wyoming, where just 1% of the population is black, and just 3% of all AIDS cases are among black people¹¹.

Conclusion

With all of the statistics outlined above, it is apparent that African Americans are the ethnic group worst affected by HIV and AIDS in virtually every sector of society. The epidemic is also expanding rapidly in poorer Southern states.

There is hope however. The number of reported HIV diagnoses among African Americans has fallen slightly in recent years, suggesting that prevention strategies may at last be working.

To find out why these reductions may have occurred, and why AIDS affects African Americans so disproportionately, please visit our main HIV & AIDS in African Americans page for a more thorough analysis of the epidemic in the black community. We also have more general statistics relating to African Americans and other ethnic minorities on our US statistics by race and ethnicity page.