Skip Navigation LinksSkip Navigation Links
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Safer Healthier People
Blue White
Blue White
bottom curve
CDC Home Search Health Topics A-Z spacer spacer
spacer
Blue curve MMWR spacer
spacer
spacer

Persons using assistive technology might not be able to fully access information in this file. For assistance, please send e-mail to: mmwrq@cdc.gov. Type 508 Accommodation and the title of the report in the subject line of e-mail.

Notice to Readers: National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, February 7, 2006

The sixth annual National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is February 7, 2006. This observance is sponsored by a coalition of nongovernment organizations, with support from CDC, to call attention to the disproportionate impact of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) on the black population in the United States.

In 2004, blacks accounted for 20,965 (49%) of the estimated number of AIDS cases diagnosed in the United States, although they represented only 12.3% of the U.S. population (1). HIV/AIDS was also among the top three causes of death for black men aged 25--54 years and among the top four causes of death for black women aged 25--54 years in 2002, the most recent year for which those data are available (2). HIV/AIDS was the leading cause of death for black women aged 25--34 years (2).

The 2004 rate of AIDS diagnoses for blacks was nearly 10 times the rate for whites and three times the rate for Hispanics. The rate of AIDS diagnoses for black women was 23 times the rate for white women. The rate of AIDS diagnoses for black men was eight times the rate for white men (1). The primary mode of HIV transmission for both men and women was sexual contact with men (1).

Race and ethnicity alone are not risk factors for HIV infection. However, blacks are more likely to face certain risk factors for HIV infection and barriers to testing and treatment, including poverty and limited access to health care and HIV prevention education (3--5). Testing, health-care, education, and prevention services remain critical to stopping the spread of HIV in this community.

Information about HIV/AIDS and the black community is available from CDC at telephone 1-800-CDC-INFO and at http://www.cdcnpin.org and http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/pubs/facts/afam.htm#5. Information about National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is available at http://www.blackaidsday.org.

References

  1. CDC. HIV/AIDS surveillance report, 2004. Volume 16. Atlanta, GA: US Department of Health and Human Services, CDC; 2005:1--46. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/stats/2004surveillancereport.pdf.
  2. Anderson RN, Smith BL. Deaths: leading causes for 2002. Natl Vital Stat Rep 2005;53(17):67--70. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr53/nvsr53_17.pdf.
  3. US Census Bureau. Poverty status of the population in 1999 by age, sex, and race and Hispanic origin. Washington, DC: US Census Bureau; March 2000. Available at http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/c2kbr-19.pdf.
  4. Diaz T, Chu SY, Buehler JW, et al. Socioeconomic differences among people with AIDS: results from a multistate surveillance project. Am J Prev Med 1994;10:217--22.
  5. CDC. HIV transmission among black women---North Carolina, 2004. MMWR 2005;54:89--93.

Use of trade names and commercial sources is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.


References to non-CDC sites on the Internet are provided as a service to MMWR readers and do not constitute or imply endorsement of these organizations or their programs by CDC or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. CDC is not responsible for the content of pages found at these sites. URL addresses listed in MMWR were current as of the date of publication.

Disclaimer   All MMWR HTML versions of articles are electronic conversions from ASCII text into HTML. This conversion may have resulted in character translation or format errors in the HTML version. Users should not rely on this HTML document, but are referred to the electronic PDF version and/or the original MMWR paper copy for the official text, figures, and tables. An original paper copy of this issue can be obtained from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), Washington, DC 20402-9371; telephone: (202) 512-1800. Contact GPO for current prices.

**Questions or messages regarding errors in formatting should be addressed to mmwrq@cdc.gov.

Date last reviewed: 2/2/2006

HOME  |  ABOUT MMWR  |  MMWR SEARCH  |  DOWNLOADS  |  RSSCONTACT
POLICY  |  DISCLAIMER  |  ACCESSIBILITY

Safer, Healthier People

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
1600 Clifton Rd, MailStop E-90, Atlanta, GA 30333, U.S.A

USA.GovDHHS

Department of Health
and Human Services