More than 40% of the people currently living with HIV are black, despite accounting for only 12% of the U.S. population.
Laura Cheever with the HIV/AIDS Bureau at the Federal Health Resources and Services Administration says viral suppression treatment in the form of daily medication has allowed most HIV patients to live a successful and near normal.
“First, it's no longer a death sentence, so that's really important,” she said. “Second, that person cannot transmit HIV sexually to other people, so it's important both for their health and for our work towards ending the HIV epidemic.”
Federal data shows more than 87% of black Americans living with HIV/Aids are receiving medical care and viral suppression drugs. Cheever points out that's a huge increase from the number of black patients receiving treatment in 2010, according to the CDC.
In 2020, North Carolina ranked in the top ten states for new HIV cases among adults and adolescents with more than one 1,000 residents newly diagnosed, most of whom are black men.