When the disease now known as HIV/AIDS was first uncovered in the 1980s, public health officials and medical professionals began to send messages around the world for people to protect themselves.  In those first years, many people believed AIDS was a gay men’s disease.  What we’ve found, instead, is that HIV/AIDS does not discriminate. The disease has spread rapidly, infecting and killing people worldwide who are of all races and sexual orientations.

25 years after the discovery of what some call “the perfect virus”, AIDS is still an incurable disease, despite improved treatment. Yet people continue participating in high-risk behaviors that expose them to the AIDS virus.

The following are some striking statistics that show how HIV/AIDS if affecting us:

	At the end of 2003, CDC estimated that ~1,185,000 persons in the U.S. were living with HIV/AIDS.
	More than 40,000 HIV/AIDS cases are diagnosed in the U.S. each year.
	More than 4,000 HIV/AIDS cases are diagnosed in Florida alone every year.
	Florida is the 3rd state with the highest number of HIV/AIDS cases in the U.S. (After New York and California).
	Broward County ranks 2nd in the number of HIV/AIDS cases in Florida (After Miami Dade County).

Source: Bureau of HIV/AIDS Florida Department of Health. Presentation by Spencer Lieb, Senior Epidemiologist.

 Unequal Impact of HIV/AIDS in Minorities in Florida

Data of 2004 show that blacks are over-represented among the AIDS cases, accounting for 53% of adult cases, but only 14% of the adult population.  A group is disproportionately impacted to the extent that the percentage of cases exceeds the percentage of population.

*Other includes Asian/Pacific Islanders and Native Alaskans/American Indians

Source: Bureau of HIV/AIDS Florida Department of Health. Presentation by Spencer Lieb, Senior Epidemiologist.

Unequal Impact of HIV/AIDS in Broward County

In 2004, black males were 3.1 times as likely as white males to be reported with AIDS.  The AIDS case rate among black females was 22 times higher than among white females. Hispanic disparities are less pronounced. 

Source: Bureau of HIV/AIDS Florida Department of Health. Presentation by Spencer Lieb, Senior Epidemiologist.

It is estimated that in Broward, approximately 1 in 130 is living with HIV/AIDS

1 in 216 Whites; 1 in 50 Blacks and 1 in 198 Hispanics.

Males account for 75% of AIDS cases, while females account for 25%.

 For more statistics visit www.cdc.gov/hiv/stats.htm and www.browardchd.org/Services/AIDS/Statistics.htm

For HIV/AIDS monthly reports for Florida, please visit: http://www.doh.state.fl.us/Disease_ctrl/aids/trends/msr/msr.html

 Check Guide to Using and Interpreting HIV/AIDS Surveillance Data

More resources:
Click here to see the presentation: Mobilization to face the crisis of HIV/AIDS in Broward County's black community.
authorized by Spencer Lieb, MPH. Senior epidemiologist.