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\nGet involved in prevention efforts, get tested, and get treatment.
\nNational Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NBHAAD) is February 7. NBHAAD is a day to increase awareness about HIV among blacks/African Americans* and encourage people to get involved in prevention efforts, get tested, and get treatment if they have HIV.
\nHIV diagnoses have fallen in recent years among black/African American women (25% decline from 2010 to 2016) and heterosexual men (26% decline). Diagnoses among young black/African American gay and bisexual men (aged 13 to 24) decreased 5%. This good news shows that the nation\u2019s HIV prevention efforts are helping reduce HIV infections among some blacks/African Americans.
\nAlthough the latest data show progress, we must continue our efforts. In 2017, nearly 17,000 blacks/African Americans received a new HIV diagnosis. Blacks/African Americans accounted for 43% of all HIV diagnoses in the United States and 6 dependent areas,** despite making up 13% of the U.S. population. Also, from 2010 to 2016, HIV diagnoses increased 40% among black/African American gay and bisexual men aged 25-34.
\nThis year NBHAAD\u2019s theme, Together for Love: Stop HIV Stigma, focuses on our shared responsibility for taking actions to help end HIV stigma\u2014negative attitudes or beliefs about people with HIV. Stigma affects the emotional well-being and mental health of people who have HIV and can keep people from getting tested and treated for HIV. Ending HIV stigma is critical to reducing new HIV infections among African Americans and helping African Americans with HIV stay healthy.
\nOn NBHAAD, help us make progress to reduce HIV among African Americans by fighting stigma and promoting HIV testing, prevention, and treatment. Eventually we can get to no new HIV infections if we work together.
\nThe Let\u2019s Stop HIV Together campaign fights stigma and seeks to ensure that all Americans know the facts about HIV. Visit Act Against AIDS for campaign resources.
\nGet the facts and get involved. Learn the facts about HIV and share this lifesaving information with others. Visit the Let\u2019s Stop HIV Together campaign site for resources that can help you fight HIV-related stigma and educate others about it. Use the Stigma Language Guide to choose supportive language when you talk about HIV.
\nGet tested. CDC recommends that everyone between the ages of 13 and 64 get tested for HIV at least once as part of routine health care and those at high risk get tested at least once a year. Some sexually active gay and bisexual men may benefit from more frequent testing (every 3 to 6 months).
\nTo find a testing site near you, visit Get Tested, text your ZIP code to KNOWIT (566948), or call 1-800-CDC-INFO. You can also use a home testing kit, available in drugstores or online. More resources on testing are available from CDC\u2019s Act Against AIDS campaign Doing It.
\nIf you know you are HIV-negative, the following activities are highly effective and can help keep you from getting HIV:
\nThe following actions can also help lower your risk of getting HIV:
\nYou can learn more about how to protect yourself and your partners and get information tailored to meet your needs from CDC\u2019s HIV Risk Reduction Tool (BETA).
\nIf you have HIV, get in care and stay on treatment. Start treatment as soon as possible after you get a diagnosis. The most important thing you can do is take HIV medicine as prescribed by your doctor.
\nHIV medicine lowers the amount of virus (viral load) in your body, and taking it every day can make your viral load undetectable. If you get and keep an undetectable viral load, you can stay healthy for many years, and you have effectively no risk of sexually transmitting HIV pdf icon[347 KB] to an HIV-negative partner. To make sure you keep an undetectable viral load, take your medicine as prescribed, and see your provider regularly to monitor your health.
\nHealth departments, community-based organizations (CBOs), providers, and other partners can
\n* Black refers to people having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa, including immigrants from the Caribbean, and South and Latin America. African American is a term often used for Americans of African descent with ancestry in North America. Individuals may self-identify as either, both, or choose another identity altogether. This feature uses African American, unless referencing surveillance data.
\n** American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, the Republic of Palau, and the US Virgin Islands.
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