While reading a recent CDC fact-sheet on HIV/AIDS in the United States, I was surprised to see how heavily concentrated the epidemic is in sexual, racial, and gender groups, namely men who have sex with men (MSM), African Americans, and heterosexual women. The incidence (rate of new infections) has been relatively stable at about 50,000 new people infected per annum, but the rate of infections in the young gay community has been steadily increasing while that in heterosexual African American women has been decreasing.
As seen in the charts, the MSM community bears the burden of the growing epidemic, while among the heterosexual community, black women and men account for far more than any other racial group (44% of total new infections, when including black MSM). What’s more shocking is that MSM only account for 4% of the population, but are roughly 80% of those newly infected. Of these, for the younger cohort (13-24 years of age), black males account for over half of the infections, making young African American MSM the group most heavily affected in America.
Among heterosexuals, women are well over half (66%) of those newly infected, pointing strongly to the inherent gender inequality and sexual imbalance in our country.
These numbers really attest to the notion that HIV is so much more than a biomedical illness– it is heavily influenced by social and community level factors that create networks of sexual transmission that heavily drive the epidemic to be as concentrated as it is.
Unfortunately, we still have a ways to go in terms of reducing stigma against homosexuality, improving outreach to low-income groups, increasing insurance coverage for minorities, and ultimately helping these populations access care and education more easily. Most clinicians and public health scientists would agree that understanding the social and epidemiological aspects of the disease is essential in combating the spread of HIV, but seeing the numbers in these charts truly puts the gravity of the public health problem into perspective.
This was originally posted at Swasthya Mundial.
Follow me at @swasthyamundial
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