Black Nurses Rock Initiative to educate and provide preventive services is crucial to our chapter’s work and mission. We have an incredible responsibility, obligation, and opportunity to address this epidemic, while providing culturally competent compassionate services.
Our goal is to align with strategic partnerships to work collectively to address the AIDS/HIV rates in the Black community. Targeted interest include: to host town hall meetings, conduct radio interviews, publish in newspaper articles, work with taskforce committees, serve on boards, collaborate on grant projects, and secure funding to work directly with this population.
According to the CDC (2016), Blacks have the most severe burden of HIV of all racial/ethnic groups in the United States. Compared with other races and ethnicities, African Americans account for a higher proportion of new HIV diagnoses, those living with HIV, and those ever diagnosed with AIDS.
- In 2014, 44% (19,540) of estimated new HIV diagnoses in the United States were among African Americans, who comprise 12% of the US population.
- Among all African Americans diagnosed with HIV in 2014, an estimated 73% (14,305) were men and 26% (5,128) were women.
- Among all African Americans diagnosed with HIV in 2014, an estimated 57% (11,201) were gay or bisexual men. Of those gay and bisexual men, 39% (4,321) were young men aged 13 to 24.
- From 2005 to 2014, the number of new HIV diagnoses among African American women fell 42%, though it is still high compared to women of other races/ethnicities. In 2014, an estimated 1,350 Hispanic/Latino women and 1,483 white women were diagnosed with HIV, compared to 5,128 African American women.
- From 2005 to 2014, the number of new HIV diagnoses among African American gay and bisexual men increased 22%. But that number stabilized in recent years, increasing less than 1% since 2010.
- From 2005 to 2014, the number of new HIV diagnoses among young African American gay and bisexual men (aged 13 to 24) increased 87%. But that trend has leveled off recently, with the number declining 2% since 2010.
- In 2014, an estimated 48% (10,045) of those diagnosed with AIDS in the United States were African Americans. By the end of 2014, 42% (504,354) of those ever diagnosed with AIDS were African Americans.
