Although we’ve had some victories in the fight against AIDS, we still have a long way to go to bring it under control.
More than 33 million people worldwide have HIV/AIDS; more than 1 million people in the United States have HIV, and more than half a million Americans have died from AIDS. In addition:
- Women represent more than one-quarter of new HIV/AIDS cases in the United States.
- Half of all people diagnosed with HIV in the United States are African American.
- AIDS is the leading cause of death for African American women ages 25–34.
- The percentage of people living with HIV in the United States who are gay or bisexual men is 49 percent.
- In Washington, D.C., alone, at least 3 percent of people are infected with HIV/AIDS. A 1 percent infection rate is considered an epidemic.
On November 8 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for the United States to work toward the eradication of AIDS, in advance of the 2011 U.S. Conference on AIDS that ran from November 10–13. CAP’s latest "Issue Pulse" contains excerpts from the speech and conference showing the broad support in our country for AIDS prevention and treatment around the world.
For more on this topic, please see: