Edwin’s Place
Quick Facts
HIV/AIDS Facts
HIV/AIDS Facts – African American Community
HIV/AIDS Facts – African American Men
HIV/AIDS Facts – African American Women
HIV/AIDS Facts – The Caribbean
HIV/AIDS Facts
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It is estimated that there are approximately 15,000 persons living with HIV/AIDS awaiting placement in permanent housing facilities through the NYC HIV/AIDS Service Administration (HASA).
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In June 1999, the New York City Department of Health estimated that approximately 144,000 New Yorkers were HIV positive, about one in every 50 residents.
- Current projections suggest that an additional 5,000 to 10,000 persons a year will become HIV positive in NYC over the course of the next five years.
- As new treatments continue to change the face of the AIDS epidemic and extend the lives of people with the disease, vacancies in the current stock of units are decreasing astronomically, further straining the availability of existing apartments to those in need.
- Communities of color have been disproportionately affected. In March 1999, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) reported that African-Americans and Latinos together represented 72 percent of all reported adult AIDS cases and a staggering 92 percent of reported AIDS cases among children.
- Of the estimated 40,000 new HIV infections each year, more than 50 percent occur among African Americans.
- In 1998, African American women constituted 64 percent of new female AIDS cases, African American men accounted for 50 percent of new AIDS cases among men.
- AIDS is the number one cause of death for Black adults aged 25 to 44, before heart disease, cancer and homicide.
- One in 50 Black men is HIV-positive. One in 160 Black women is HIV-positive.
- Black senior citizens represent more than 50 percent of HIV cases among persons over age 55.
- Intravenous drug use is fueling the epidemic in Black communities. It accounts for 43 percent of infections among Black women and 38 percent among Black men. Many women contact HIV infection through sex with an injection drug user.
- In 1998, men of color who have sex with men represented 52 percent of total AIDS cases. By comparison, in 1989 men of color who have sex with men represented 31 percent of total AIDS cases.
- Although only 15 percent of the adolescent population in the United stated is Black, over 60 percent of AIDS cases reported in 1999 among 13-19 year olds were among Blacks.
- Black children represent almost two-thirds (62 percent) of all reported pediatric AIDS cases.
- Women and children are continuing to represent the second wave of transmission through injection drug use and maternal transmission.
- AIDS is a global problem among Black people. The World Health Organization reveals that the disease is the number one leading cause of death in Africa. The United Nations estimated that two million Africans died of AIDS in 1998, accounting for 80 percent of the worldwide total of AIDS deaths. Nine out of ten children with HIV are in sub Saharan Africa. By the end of the year 2000, a cumulative total of 13 million children – the majority in Africa will have lost one of both parents to AIDS.
Source: Data provided by the NYC HIV/AIDS Services Administration (HASA); and by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Harvard AIDS Institute.