African Americans: Overview

Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/aa/index.htm

 

Among diseases that disproportionately affect African Americans, HIV/AIDS has had a particularly devastating effect. At every stage―from HIV diagnosis through the death of persons with AIDS―the hardest-hit racial or ethnic group is African Americans. Overall, even though African Americans make up only approximately 13% of the US population, one half of the estimated new numbers of HIV/AIDS diagnoses in the United States in 2004 were for African Americans [1].*

Race/ethnicity of adults and adolescents with HIV/AIDS diagnosed in 2004

Note. Based on data from 35 areas with long-term, confidential, name-based HIV reporting.

AIDS has become a leading cause of death for African Americans. In 2002 (the most recent year for which data are available), HIV/AIDS was the second leading cause of death for all African Americans aged 35–44 [2]. In the same year, HIV/AIDS was the number 1 cause of death for African American women aged 25–34 [2].

The cumulative toll (from the beginning of the epidemic through 2004) of AIDS is sobering.

• Of the almost 1 million cases of AIDS diagnosed in the United States and its dependencies, possessions, and associated nations, 40% were in African Americans [1].
• Of the more than half a million people with AIDS who have died, 38% were African Americans [1].
   

It is not an exaggeration to say that HIV/AIDS is an epidemic in the African American community.

Quick Facts:

• African Americans have accounted for 40% of AIDS diagnoses since the beginning of the epidemic [1].
• African Americans do not live as long as people in other racial or ethnic groups who have AIDS [1].
• In 2004,more African American children (under the age of 13) were living with AIDS than were children of all other races and ethnicities living with AIDS combined [1].

* The estimated number of new HIV/AIDS diagnoses is derived from 35 areas with long-term, confidential name-based HIV reporting. The 35 areas include the US Virgin Islands, Guam, and 33 states: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.