What’s Happening in Baltimore
Let’s first look at the U.S.
• CDC estimates that over 1,000,000 people are living with HIV in the U.S, and 1 in 5 (21%) don’t even know they are positive.
• 56,300 Americans becoming infected with HIV each year.
• While African Americans represent approximately 12% of the U.S. population, they account for almost half (46%) of people living with HIV in the US, as well as nearly half (45%) of new infections each year. At some point in their life, approximately one in 16 black men will be diagnosed with HIV.
• Click here for a more in-depth look at HIV in the United States.
But What’s Happening in Baltimore?
Churches in Baltimore
It is impossible to live in the city of Baltimore and not be affected/infected by HIV because…
• On December 31, 2009; Maryland had a total of 29,080 reported cases living with HIV and AIDS
• While Maryland ranks 19th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia in total population, in 2009 Maryland was ninth in cumulative number of AIDS cases (36,313 through December 31, 2009) and fourth among U.S. states and territories in estimated AIDS diagnosis rate (19.9 diagnoses per 100,000 population during 2009).
• Baltimore-Towson had the tenth highest estimated AIDS diagnosis rate of any major metropolitan area
• National estimates suggest that there are 6,000-9,000 Marylanders who are HIV positive and are unaware of their status
• In Maryland, some 78 percent of HIV/AIDS cases are African-Americans
• A 2008 Johns Hopkins University study found about 45 percent of a sample of black men who have sex with men in Baltimore were HIV-positive, and in at least one federal study, Baltimore ranked highest among other cities in the proportion of young, black men who have sex with men who have HIV.
• More stats of HIV/AIDS in Baltimore region can be found here
Click Here for HIV and AIDS Information in the African American Community