A recent finding shows that new HIV cases disproportionately affect young Latino men. While the number of Americans diagnosed with HIV declined from 2012-2022, the number of young Latino men transmitting new cases of HIV has doubled in that time.
The number of people living with HIV in the United States is estimated around 1.2 million, including undiagnosed cases. While African American men still lead with the most in new infections, young Latino men are the most at-risk demographic, according to the CDC. Latino males make up 19% of America’s population and accounted for 33% of new HIV cases in 2022, with gay and bisexual men the most infected in that percentage. The states where transmission rates are the highest include Kentucky, Louisiana, Georgia, and South Carolina.
Three years ago, the U.S. Department of Health And Human Services rolled out an initiative to address the HIV epidemic in America. While it did succeed in lowering transmission rates by 23%, only 4% of the HHS”s $30 billion budget goes towards prevention. There aren’t adequate resources and personnel dedicated to HIV outreach and education, and the Latino population can be barred access to this helpful information due to language barriers. As Dr. Michelle Taylor, director of Tennessee’s health department, states, “There are no specific campaigns just among Latino people,” which contributed greatly to the state’s rising rates of new HIV cases amongst Latino men.
There are some suggestions from public health advocates that the HHS could follow to lessen the increase at-risk rates of Latino men. For starters, reallocating funds in the budget towards prevention can allow for more awareness campaigns targeted at the Latino demographic, as well as affording hiring more bilingual testers. Centering outreach efforts at Latino spaces like churches and clubs could help raise awareness, and could be opportunities to increase access to testing and pre-exposure prophylactics (PrEP). In addition, establishing access to testing in rural areas would help decrease transmission rates. Dr. Robyn Neblett Fanfair, director of the CDC’s Division of HIV Prevention, called for more resources to be dedicated towards awareness and prevention, stating, “HIV disparities are not inevitable.”
