HIV Care Outcomes MMWR

HIV Care Outcomes Among Blacks with Diagnosed HIV – United States, 2014

A new CDC analysis finds that the proportion of African Americans receiving the care and treatment needed to sustain healthy lives, keep their virus under control, and prevent transmission of HIV falls short of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS) goals. The National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS) recommends actions to reduce disparities and sets targets to measure outcomes. Authors of this study examined data in 33 jurisdictions from the National HIV Surveillance System to describe HIV care outcomes among blacks living with HIV and assess progress toward achieving NHAS goals. Results show that among the 12,269 African Americans who received a diagnosis of HIV infection during 2014, more than one in five (21.9 percent) had an infection classified as AIDS at the time of diagnosis. Among all blacks living with HIV at the end of 2013, 53.5 percent were retained in care and 48.5 percent had achieved viral suppression. When measured against the NHAS goals, which calls for 90 percent of people with diagnosed HIV to be retained in care and 80 percent of people living with diagnosed HIV to have an undetectable viral load by 2020, it is clear that urgent improvements are needed. Efforts should be focused on increasing routine HIV testing among African Americans and ensuring everyone has access to the care and treatment services needed to improve health outcomes.

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES