Minority HIV/AIDS Fund in Action

The Minority HIV/AIDS Fund* has worked to develop and implement game-changing approaches to improving the health of people of color who have or are at risk for HIV. Past innovations to combat HIV have not always reached communities of color as quickly or have not been implemented in ways that have addressed the needs of the community as they have for their White counterparts. This has contributed to major HIV disparities for racial and ethnic minority communities.

There are currently 1.2 million people with HIV in the United States. More than 30,000 people are newly diagnosed with HIV each year (according to the latest data available from CDC, 30,635 people over age 13 were diagnosed with HIV in the United States in 2020).**  HIV persists as a serious public health challenge in the United States, and racial and ethnic minorities bear the greatest burden. For example:

• Almost 3 out of 4 of new HIV diagnoses are among racial and ethnic minorities.
• According to a 2016 study by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), African Americans and Hispanics have a higher risk of contracting HIV in their lifetime.
• 51% of people newly diagnosed with HIV reside in the Deep South.
• All people living with HIV should have access to and be on treatment that suppresses their viral load; however, only 62% of racial and ethnic minorities living with diagnosed HIV in the U.S. have a suppressed viral load.

* As of March 2019, the program formerly known as the Secretary’s Minority AIDS Initiative Fund (SMAIF) has been renamed. The program is now known as the Minority HIV/AIDS Fund.

** CDC cautions that data for 2020 should be interpreted with caution due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on access to HIV testing, care-related services, and case surveillance activities in state and local jurisdictions.