HIV declines among black Floridians

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published February 2, 2007

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TALLAHASSEE - HIV infection in black Floridians dropped more than 8 percent for men and more than 10 percent for women between 1999 and 2004, according to a study released Thursday by federal officials.

The analysis of new HIV diagnoses by the Florida Health Department and released by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggested that the decline was real and not due to a reduction in testing, which went up during the period.

The number of AIDS cases in the black community nationwide decreased steadily from 2001 to 2004, according to federal figures, dropping about 10 percent, with the largest annual decline about 6 percent.

Florida has one of the largest publicly funded HIV testing programs in the country, conducting about 300,000 tests a year.

Nationally, more than a million Americans are believed to be HIV-positive, and federal officials have acknowledged they've fallen short on goals for cutting new infections. Federal government statistics show blacks account for just under half of HIV cases nationwide - while they make up less than 15 percent of the population as a whole. And in 2004, the rate of new AIDS cases among blacks was more than 10 times as high as the rate among whites, according to federal government statistics.

Fast Facts:

 

By the numbers

Rates of HIV diagnosis in Florida among blacks, whites and Hispanics, 1999 to 2004.

Blacks

1999: 224.4 cases per 100,000

2004: 134 cases per 100,000

Whites

1999: 18.8 cases per 100,000

2004: 18.4 per 100,000

Hispanics

1999: 47.9 cases per 100,000

2000: 46.1 cases per 100,000

Source: Centers for Disease Control, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.