MONTGOMERY-National Asian and Pacific Islander HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is held annually on May 19. It is an important day to educate the public about the impact of HIV stigma among Asian and Pacific Islander communities and provide access to testing and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for these communities.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), of the 37,968 new HIV diagnoses in the U.S. and U.S. territories in 2018, 2 percent were among Asians and less than 1 percent were among Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders (NHOPI). These statistics may not be alarming to some, but an estimated 1.2 million people had HIV at the end of 2018 and of those, 17,600 were among persons who identified as Asian and 1,100 were among persons that identified as NHOPI.
According to CDC, 66.5 percent of Asian Americans and 43.1 percent of NHOPI have never been tested for HIV. Today, it is important to promote prevention methods such as HIV testing, the availability of PrEP and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) within facilities where these communities will benefit most, and most importantly provide education to end HIV stigma among these communities to #StopHIVTogether.
In 2019, a new national initiative, Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America (EHE) was launched. The goal is to focus efforts on diagnosing, treating, preventing and responding to new HIV infections in the U.S. with an overall goal of reducing new HIV infections by 90 percent by 2030. Let’s Stop HIV Together is a campaign that is part of the EHE initiative, and it also highlights ways to reduce HIV stigma and promote testing and treatment for countless communities that specifically include Asian and NHOPI.
Media Release/Adrinda Carter/ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH
