Connections (May-June 2022) - ISS-G20 Laboratorium Repository

From the Director - Jonathan Mermin, MD, MPH

Dear Colleagues:

June is LGBTQ+ Pride Month! Please join me and millions of others in celebrating Pride and promoting equality for sexual and gender minority persons.

This year, the Let’s Stop HIV Together campaign has created a “how to” guide, the Together Pride-In-A-Box.  It contains information and resources for those planning to hold in-person or virtual activities during Pride season. Pride events are full of opportunities to engage with the LGBTQ+ community and share important messages to reduce HIV stigma and address testing, prevention, and treatment.

Data analysis from our HIV surveillance reports offers us and our partners the ability to monitor trends, identify risk factors among priority populations/geographic areas, and monitor access to medical care and care-related outcomes.  On May 24, 2022 we published a new HIV surveillance report: Diagnoses of HIV Infection in the United States and Dependent Areas, 2020 and a new HIV supplemental surveillance report: Monitoring Selected National HIV Prevention and Care Objectives by Using HIV Surveillance Data, United States and 6 Dependent Areas, 2020.

The COVID-19 pandemic in the United States led to disruptions in HIV testing services and access to clinical services throughout 2020. This disruption resulted in a steep, single-year decline in HIV diagnoses. Given these disruptions, data for 2020 should be interpreted with caution. You can learn more by reading Dr. Daskalakis’s and my recent letter:

• The overall number of HIV diagnoses in the United States in 2020 (30,403) was 17% lower than in 2019.
• HIV diagnosis percentages and rates were highest among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men; persons aged 25–34 years; Black/African American persons; and persons residing in the South.
• From the perspective of racial and ethnic disparities, both absolute and relative disparities in HIV diagnoses were largest between Black/African American and White persons aged 13–24 years.
• Approximately 82% of people with HIV diagnosed during 2020 were linked to care within one month of diagnosis.
• Among all persons with diagnosed HIV in the areas, 65% had viral suppression.

Entire content available on: https://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/connections/2022/may-june.html