National Minority AIDS Council Building Healthier Communities

Despite the availability and success of HIV treatment drugs in the United States, the best long-term hope for controlling the AIDS epidemic worldwide is the development of safe, effective and affordable preventive HIV vaccines. Consider these facts:

 

HIV/AIDS in the United States

• Nearly half a million Americans have died with AIDS since the epidemic began.
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that almost one million Americans are living with HIV, and more than one third of them do not know it.
• Each year, over 40,000 people become infected with HIV, a rate that has remained virtually unchanged in recent years. 73% are men and 27% are women. Of these, half are younger than 25 years of age.
• Minority communities are disproportionately affected by the epidemic. Half of all new HIV infections occur in African Americans, who make up 13% of the U.S. population. AIDS is the third leading cause of death of Americans aged 25-34, and was the number one cause of death in African American women ages 25-34 in 2002. 20% of new HIV infections occur in Latinos, who make up 14% of the population.

 

HIV/AIDS Around the World

• To date, nearly 25 million men, women and children have died with AIDS worldwide.
• Currently, 40 million people are estimated to be living with HIV/AIDS, and 14,000 new infections occur each day.
• Today, more than 13 million children under the age of 15 have lost one or both of their parents to AIDS, most live in sub-Saharan Africa.

Currently there is no cure for HIV or AIDS, nor is there a preventive vaccine. Scientists are conducting clinical trials to develop HIV preventive vaccines. A preventive HIV vaccine is a substance that will teach the body’s immune system to recognize and protect itself against HIV. The HIV vaccines being tested in humans do not contain HIV; therefore, they cannot cause HIV infection.

 

HIV preventive vaccines are part of a global response to the HIV and AIDS epidemic—a global response that also includes: education; efforts to encourage people to modify or avoid risky behaviors; drug abuse treatment; needle exchange programs; testing and treatment of sexually transmitted infections other than HIV; efforts to prevent mother-to-child transmission; and treatment with anti-retroviral drugs. A successful preventive vaccine candidate can add a powerful new tool in the fight to prevent HIV. Moreover, a successful preventive vaccine may be our best hope for ending the epidemic among communities of color across the United States.

Test your knowledge about HIV, treatment and vaccines in a HIV Vaccine Awareness quiz, then browse through the self-paced tutorial to learn more about why we need an HIV vaccine, the real deal about HIV vaccine research, the importance of diversity, the status of vaccine research, and how you can participate.