USA failing to reach populations most in need of HIV prevention and treatment services as epidemic grows in the South and rural areas

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-02/tl-pss021821.php

 

News Release 19-Feb-2021
People who are racial, sexual, and gender minorities continue to be affected by HIV at significantly higher rates than white people, a disparity also reflected in the COVID-19 pandemic
The Lancet

 

The USA continues to lag behind other G-7 nations when it comes to controlling its HIV epidemic and is the only high-income country among the top 10 most HIV-affected countries worldwide. The majority of HIV infections are now concentrated in the South and rural areas, where women and minorities are disproportionately affected; a disparity that has also been seen in the COVID-19 pandemic which has disproportionately affected African Americans, Latinx Americans, Native Americans, and prisoners and detainees.

The USA's inability to control its own epidemic is in stark contrast to its role as the largest global funder of HIV research and AIDS programs worldwide.


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The geography of the US epidemic has shifted dramatically and is now most intense in the South, which represents 37% of the US population but 51% of people living with HIV and 47% of new HIV diagnoses in 2018.

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Gender differences in PWID are common. Women who inject drugs are 1.2 times more likely to acquire HIV than their male counterparts, often being second to use the needle after their male injection partner. In 2017, women accounted for 28% of new HIV diagnoses among PWID.

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While uninsurance has drastically declined over the past decade thanks to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the USA trails other high-income countries in key HIV-specific metrics, including rates of viral suppression [4]. And the system remains complex with coverage opportunities varying substantially across the country, leaving many people outside the system.

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