HIV Facts

The only way to stop AIDS in Black communities is to build a mass response to the AIDS epidemic in Black America. As a community, we must make fighting AIDS a top priority and set concrete measurable goals and objectives, with real deadlines, of what we will do about it.

I want to start an organization to save my life. If whales, snails, dogs, cats, Chrysler and Nixon can be saved, the lives of black men are priceless and must be saved.
Essex Hemphill

The Facts

Of the estimated 1.2 million Americans living with HIV/AIDS nearly half of them are Black. 40% of the new cases among men, 30% of the new cases among gay men, 60% of the new cases among women, and 70% of the new cases among teens are Black. To make matters worse, over 50% of HIV positive African Americans don’t know they are infected. AIDS is the leading cause of death for Black women aged 24-34, and the second leading cause of death among Blacks, aged 25-44.