National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NBHAAD), held every year on February 7, has for 17 years been a time to encourage HIV prevention, testing, and access to care and treatment in the African American community. This year, it is a testament to public health and a strong community that the numbers of HIV and AIDS diagnoses among African Americans have decreased along with other racial and ethnic groups over the past decades. While African Americans are still the
racial/ethnic group most affected by HIV, the gains made by this community have been great, and they include a 14% drop in HIV diagnoses from 2010 to 2014 that were fueled by
a steep decline among African American women and a leveling off of diagnoses among
African American gay and bisexual men. Research has shown that African Americans do not engage in behaviors that could transmit HIV more than other groups, so the impact of HIV likely affected the African American community because of other factors, such as lack of access to health care, poverty, high rates of male incarceration,
stigma [ PDF 563KB], and homophobia.
NBHAAD has been important over the years to focus our wide-ranging prevention efforts on African Americans and to reinforce the actions needed to continue to drive down HIV infections. Continuing to decrease new HIV infections requires prevention in many forms. It requires that individuals
know their status and take
precautions to protect themselves from HIV. But, it also requires individuals living with HIV take steps not to transmit the virus. And one of the most effective ways to prevent
transmission of the virus is to have a viral load that is undetectable, due to consistent care and
treatment.
In addition, to help individuals navigate the myriad prevention options to lower their risk of acquiring or transmitting HIV, CDC created the
HIV Risk Reduction Tool, an interactive program that allows individuals to determine their risk of HIV and the prevention options most effective for their specific circumstances.
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