The CDC has some encouraging news for us.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a new study about people living with HIV (PWDH). The CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report analyzed the National HIV Surveillance System data covering people aged 13 and above. They did so to determine the death rates per 1,000 PWDH during 2010-2018. Then by using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, they were able to classify deaths with a “nonmissing underlying cause” as HIV-related or non-HIV-related.
In the end, the rates of death related to HIV decreased by 36.6% overall (from 19.4% to 12.3% per 1,000 PWDH). They then broke down the result even further. During 2010-2017, HIV-related death rates decreased 48.4% (from 9.1% to 4.7%) and non-HIV-related death rates decreased 8.6% (from 9.3% to 8.5%).
The results were also broken down by race and ethnicities. For people who are multi-ethnic and/or mixed race, rates of HIV-related deaths during 2017 were at their highest in the sample times (7.0%). The same could be said for Black/African American people (5.6). For White and Latinx/Hispanic people, the numbers were still at their highest during 2017 but were significantly lower than the prior two groups (at 3.9% each).
Then, the American South was the American region that received the worst of HIV-related deaths (6.0%) while the Northeast received the lowest (3.2%).
“The decline in HIV-related deaths proves that investments in HIV testing, care and treatment are paying off, but we should also protect people from getting HIV in the first place,” said Dr. Jonathan Mermin, director of CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention. “Through the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative, we are working to accelerate progress and ultimately make this a thing of the past.”
Source: The CDC,
