HIV diagnoses among young Latino men who have sex with men are on the rise in the U.S., with Latinos making up the largest share of new HIV diagnoses and infections among gay and bisexual men in 2022, according to a joint analysis from the Associated Press and KFF Health News.
According to the AP’s analysis of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Latinos accounted for 33% of new HIV infections in 2022, despite comprising 19% of the U.S. population. That represents a significant increase from 2012, when Latinos made up 26% of new HIV diagnoses among men who have sex with men while comprising 18% of the population. The rates were highest in the southeast, with the most cases occurring in Kentucky, Louisiana, Georgia, and South Carolina. However, the AP also reported that HIV diagnosis rates among Latinos grew even in places like San Francisco, which have ample resources dedicated to HIV prevention and screening, over the past several years.
In a statement to the AP, Dr. Robyn Neblett Fanfair, the director of the CDC’s Division of HIV Prevention, said that “HIV disparities are not inevitable,” citing systemic barriers like racism and language differences. Infectious disease specialist Carlos Saldana, who studied clusters of rapid HIV transmission among gay Latinos in Georgia, also told the AP that some of the challenges they faced included struggling to understand the healthcare system, lacking access to transportation, and fearing deportation if they sought treatment.
PrEP, which reduces the risk of getting HIV from sex by roughly 99% and reduces the risk of getting HIV from injection drug use by at least 74%, has been commercially available since 2012. In 2022, the CDC found that 36% of people who could benefit from PrEP had been prescribed it, which marked the first time that more than a third of that population had received a prescription. However, there are sharp racial disparities in PrEP prescriptions. The CDC’s estimates also found that 94% of white people who could benefit from PrEP have been prescribed it, but only 13% of Black people and 24% of Latinos have been prescribed PrEP. According to NBC News, PrEP usage among Black and Latino Americans has doubled over the past five years, though white people are still the population with the highest rate of PrEP usage.
Latino health policy advocates told the AP that the federal government should redistribute funding for HIV prevention, which could help reach more Latine communities in settings like churches and Latin nights at clubs, as well as through hiring bilingual HIV testers. Although Congress has appropriated $2.3 billion over five years to the national Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative, which provides funds for HIV diagnosis, treatment, and prevention to 57 areas where transmission occurs most frequently, it lacks requirements to target specific groups, including Latinos. The AP also reported that even when certain jurisdictions received funds, they were not adequate for addressing the needs of Latine communities, with South Carolina not expanding HIV mobile testing in rural areas, and only able to pay for four community health workers focused on HIV outreach.
Get the best of what’s queer. Sign up for Them’s weekly newsletter here.
