December is HIV/AIDS Awareness Month – a time to raise awareness and reflect on the impact that this epidemic has had on our communities and on the world.

The United States has made enormous strides in HIV treatment, care and prevention since the epidemic began 40 years ago. HIV was once the leading cause of death for young people, but because of scientific advances, fewer people are becoming infected with HIV, and those who do are living longer and healthier lives. The rate of new HIV infections declined 73% between 1984 and 2019, and the age-adjusted death rate has dropped more than 80% since its peak in 1995.

However, in some ways, progress has stalled, as too many people remain unaware of their HIV status, and too few people living at risk are taking the appropriate pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) medicine. In 2019, there were approximately 1.2 million people living with HIV in the U.S., with 34,800 new infections that year, representing an 8% decrease since 2015. However, an estimated one in eight people living with HIV in the U.S. did not know they’d been infected.

To learn more, follow this link to the full story.