Disparity oral Presentation

Slide 1

Good morning, everyone. My name is Bushra. Today I’m talking about racial

disparities in HIV in the United States. I’ll compare African American,

Hispanic/Latino, and Caucasian Americans, explain why these gaps exist, and

share one program that is helping close them.

Slide 2

Before we look at any numbers, it helps to understand what HIV actually

is. HIV is a virus that attacks the immune system. If it isn’t treated, the immune

system gets so weak that the person develops AIDS, the last and most serious

stage. HIV spreads three main ways: sex without a condom or PrEP, sharing

needles, and from parent to baby. There’s no cure, but daily medicine keeps it

under control. When medicine lowers the virus enough, that’s called viral

suppression, and the person can’t pass HIV to a partner through sex.

Slide 3

Now that we know what HIV is, let’s look at who is being diagnosed with

it. This graph shows new HIV diagnoses in 2024 for every 100,000 people.

African Americans have the highest rate at 42.2. Hispanic/Latino Americans are

at 23.7, and Caucasian Americans are at 4.8. That means African Americans

are diagnosed at almost nine times the Caucasian rate.

Slide 4

Next, I wanted to see whether this gap is getting better or worse over

time. From 2021 to 2024, the African American rate stayed around 42 every

year. The Hispanic/Latino rate went up until 2023, then dipped a little in 2024,

but it’s still higher than where it started. The Caucasian rate is low and slowly

falling. So overall, the gap is not closing.

Slide 5

New diagnoses are only part of the story, so now let’s look at how many

people are living with HIV and dying from it. On the left is prevalence, the

percent of each group living with diagnosed HIV. About 1 in 97 African

Americans has HIV, compared with 1 in 236 Hispanic/Latino Americans and 1

in 639 Caucasian Americans. On the right, African Americans make up 12% of

the population but 41% of HIV deaths. So African Americans are both more

likely to be living with HIV and more likely to die from it.

Slide 6

Now that we’ve seen how big the gap is, the next question is why it exists.

Black and Hispanic people are much less likely to get PrEP. Poverty and lack of

insurance make it harder to get tested and treated. Racism and HIV stigma

lead to medical mistrust, so people are less likely to stay in care. In the South,

limited Medicaid and too few providers make it worse. Other STIs make HIV

easier to catch, and language barriers keep some Hispanic immigrants from

getting care. These are social causes, not biological ones.

Slide 7

Now that we understand the causes, let’s look at a program that is

working to address them. The Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program is run by the

federal agency HRSA and was created in 1990. It pays for HIV care, medicine,

housing, transportation and food for people with low income or no insurance. In

2024 it served over 600,000 people, more than half of everyone diagnosed with

HIV in the U.S. Its funding is ongoing but under pressure. Congress kept it at

about 2.6 billion dollars for 2026, but the 2027 White House budget asks to cut

74 million dollars, including the Minority AIDS Initiative, which serves these

Communities.

Slide 8

So does the Ryan White Program actually work? Let’s look at the results.

In 2024, 91.4% of Ryan White clients had their HIV under control, compared

with only 67.2% of all people with HIV in the U.S. This graph comes from a

peer-reviewed study. Between 2010 and 2016, African American clients

improved the most of any group, and the gap between African American and

Caucasian clients shrank from 13 points to about 8. Access to care really does

reduce racial differences.

Slide 9

To bring everything together, here are my main takeaways. African

Americans and Hispanic/Latino Americans carry much more of the HIV burden

because of unequal access to PrEP, testing, insurance and care, along with

stigma. Programs like Ryan White show that equal access to care can close the

gap. Protecting and expanding them, along with PrEP access, can help reduce

these disparities. Thank you. Does anyone have any questions?