SMAIF In Action

The Secretary’s Minority AIDS Initiative Fund (SMAIF) has worked to develop and implement game-changing approaches to improving the health of people of color living with or at risk for HIV. Past innovations to combat HIV have not always reached communities of color as quickly or have not been implemented in ways that have addressed the needs of the community as they have for their White counterparts. This has contributed to major disparities for people of color along the HIV continuum of care.

There are currently 1.1 million people living with HIV in the United States. Nearly 40,000 people are newly diagnosed with HIV each year. HIV is still a major problem in the U.S., and racial and ethnic minorities bear the greatest burden:

• Almost 3 out of 4 of new HIV diagnoses are among racial and ethnic minorities.
• Blacks and Hispanics have a higher risk of contracting HIV in their lifetime:

  

• 50% of people newly diagnosed with HIV reside in the Deep South.
• All people living with HIV should have access to and be on treatment that suppresses their viral load; however, only 54% of racial and ethnic minorities living with HIV in the U.S. have a suppressed viral load.

SMAIF improves prevention, care, and treatment for racial and ethnic minorities across federal programs through innovation, systems change, and strategic partnerships and collaboration. Join us in the fight against HIV by reading and sharing our growing collection of stories highlighting SMAIF in Action.