NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Department of Health will join health providers and advocates across the country in observing National HIV Testing Day on Saturday, June 27. The goal of this observance is to promote public awareness and prevention of HIV, and the Tennessee Department of Health is encouraging all sexually active Tennesseans to get tested for HIV. TDOH provides free, confidential testing across the state in local county health departments.

Department of Health statistics show the urgent need for raising awareness about HIV. In 2007, there were 1,043 persons who were newly identified with the HIV virus in Tennessee. The largest number of HIV/AIDS cases occurred among persons aged 35-44 years and accounted for 30 percent of all cases diagnosed in 2007. Among those newly diagnosed cases, 74 percent were men and 26 percent were women; 64 percent of the total were African American.

According to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are 1,106,400 million HIV-positive individuals nationwide, and one in five of those are unaware that they have HIV. Nationwide, someone is infected with HIV every 49 seconds. TDOH experts note that the virus affects all age groups, and stress the importance of early detection of HIV.

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that HIV testing become a routine part of medical care” says Carolyn Wester, MD, MPH, medical director of the state’s HIV/AIDS/STD section. “The earlier people know their status, the quicker they can begin treatment, which leads to longer and healthier lives. Without treatment, the HIV infection can continue to weaken the immune system and will likely progress to AIDS.”

According to statistics from the Tennessee Department of Health, more than 19,000 cases of HIV/AIDS have been diagnosed across the state since 1992. Over this period, an increasing number of cases have been reported among all races and ethnicities, with the sharpest increase among African Americans.

Various sites across the state will provide free, walk-in HIV testing on Saturday, June 27 for National HIV Testing Day. To find your nearest testing site, visit www.hivtest.org. The Tennessee Department of Health offers free HIV tests throughout the year at county health department locations. Contact information for your local County Health Department can be found online at http://health.state.tn.us/LocalDepts/index.html.

To learn more about the HIV/AIDS epidemic and how to protect yourself, visit the Department of Health, HIV/AIDS/STD section Web site at http://health.state.tn.us/STD/std.htm. Questions about HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases can also be answered by calling the HIV/AIDS/STD Hotline at 1-800-525-2437.

HIV remains a persistent and pervasive threat to the health, well-being, and human potential of many African American communities. As the impact of the epidemic among African Americans has grown, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), state and local public health agencies, and African American communities have stepped up efforts to address the crisis.

While we have seen important signs of progress in reducing risk in many African American populations, the impact remains severe. Today, a heightened national response is urgently needed to build on progress to date and meet the serious challenges that remain.

HIV and AIDS: A Health Crisis for African Americans – African Americans are severely and disproportionately affected by HIV. While blacks represent approximately 13 percent of the U.S. population, they account for approximately half of the more than one million Americans currently estimated to be living with HIV, and have represented 40 percent of all deaths among people with AIDS in the U.S. to date.

As new treatments have expanded the lifespans of people infected with HIV, the number of African Americans living with HIV continues to increase, creating more opportunities for HIV transmission.

Fortunately, even in the face of rising HIV prevalence, there have been no indications of increases in the overall rate of new HIV infections among African Americans. In fact, there have been signs of possible reductions in new infections among blacks in some areas hard hit by HIV, such as the state of Florida, and in populations hard hit throughout the country, including injection drug users and African American women. Additionally, mother-to-child transmission of HIV, which largely affects African Americans, has been dramatically reduced, and African American teens have reported significant declines in sexual risk behavior and increases in condom use in recent years. Yet significantly more must be done to address the impact of HIV among African American men, women, and young people.

The latest CDC data on new HIV diagnoses between 2001 and 2005 in the 33 states with long-term, confidential name-based HIV reporting show that:*

• African American males continue to bear the greatest burden of HIV in the U.S. In 2005, the rate of HIV diagnosis (number of cases per 100,000 population) among black men was nearly seven times higher than that of white men, and more than twice that of black women.
• African American women are also severely affected. Among black women in 2005, the rate was more than 20 times that of white women.
• Racial disparities in HIV diagnoses are particularly severe among young people. Overall, blacks made up half (51%) of all new HIV diagnoses between 2001 and 2005. But among youth aged 13 –24, blacks accounted for 61 percent of diagnoses.

*CDC. Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Diagnoses of HIV/AIDS—33 States, 2001–2005. MMWR 2007;56:189–193. Note: New HIV diagnoses do not necessarily represent new infections, because some individuals with new HIV diagnoses were infected recently, while others were infected long ago.

CDC’S commitment to fighting HIV among African Americans

As the impact of HIV on African Americans has grown over time, so have efforts to combat it. CDC works with partners across the nation to fight HIV on the front lines of the epidemic. Today, nearly half of CDC’s domestic HIV prevention budget, or more than $300 million, is directed to fighting HIV in African American communities.

The largest share of CDC prevention funds for African American communities, an estimated $244 million, supports state and local health departments; national, regional, and community organizations; and health care providers across the U.S.

CDC funds these partners to implement programs to reduce HIV risk behavior among African Americans, help those living with HIV to protect their sexual partners from infection, and increase HIV testing and links to HIV care. Their efforts include approaches such as intensive one-on-one and group counseling, peer outreach, and HIV testing in community-based and health care settings.

Roughly $140 million is now directed to state and local health departments who work in partnership with local community groups to reach the African American populations at greatest risk in their area. Funding for this program has increased from $5.75 million in 1988.

To supplement these efforts and provide additional support to hard-hit communities, CDC provides $30 million directly to community-based organizations to implement programs, an increase from $3 million in 1988.

For more details, follow this link to the CDC website.

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