October 15 is National Latinx AIDS Awareness Day

Dear colleague

Today is National Latinx AIDS Awareness Day (NLAAD), a day to promote community mobilization, HIV testing, prevention, and treatment and reduce HIV stigma among Hispanic/Latino people in the United States. NLAAD was co-founded more than 20 years ago by the Latino Commission on AIDS and the Hispanic Federation.

Despite representing 18% of the US population, in 2022, Hispanic/Latino people represented 33% of HIV incidence overallgay and bisexual men, Hispanic/Latino gay and bisexual men were most affected, with 39% of HIV incidence occurring in this group. Although rates of HIV incidence among Hispanic/Latino people remained stable, social, and structural issues—such as racism, xenophobia, transphobia, homophobia, poverty, and stigma affect access to healthcare and prevention services and continue to drive health disparities.

CDC is committed to expanding HIV prevention strategies in Hispanic/Latino communities including HIV testing and PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis), culturally appropriate interventions, and timely access to treatment and care after diagnosis. Our commitment is demonstrated through efforts such as Project Confianza, which aims to identify and address drivers of medical mistrust among Hispanic and Latino communities in the United States, with a focus on gay and bisexual men. Another project, PrEP Choice, is an implementation research study to increase PrEP use among Hispanic/Latino and Black gay and bisexual men at 11 health clinics in the South, Northeast, and Midwest. We are also excited about our newly developed initiative under the Let's Stop HIV Together campaign, PrEPared/PrEParado, that aims to address disparities in PrEP use among gay, bisexual, same gender loving and other men who have sex with men in the South.

Community is at the core of our priorities and activities. We are proud to join our Hispanic/Latino community partners in HIV prevention and recognize their important work around health education, HIV prevention, capacity building, advocacy, and behavioral health research. CDC leadership has been meeting with community members in various spaces, including the National LatinX Conference, the Hispanic Health Summit, and the US Conference on HIV/AIDS (USCHA) to discuss how we meaningfully build bridges with and for Hispanic/Latino communities, how we address the HIV workforce to bring in the next generation of Hispanic/Latino leaders, and the continued need for bi-directional community engagement.

Thank you for your continued partnership and ongoing commitment to ending the HIV epidemic. Together, we can work to enhance HIV testing, prevention, and treatment efforts among Hispanic/Latino people in the United States.

Help us raise awareness about HIV testing, prevention, and treatment for Hispanic/Latino people by downloading and sharing resources in English and Spanish from CDC's Let's Stop HIV Together (Detengamos Juntos el VIH) campaign, the national campaign of the Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. initiative and the National HIV/AIDS Strategy. Let's Stop HIV Together (Detengamos Juntos el VIH) is an evidence-based campaign created in English and Spanish that aims to empower communities, partners, and health care providers to reduce HIV stigma and promote HIV testing, prevention, and treatment. You can also share social media content from CDC's digital toolkit using the #StopHIVTogether, #DetengamosElVIHJuntos, and #NLAAD hashtags.

Sincerely,

/Robyn Fanfair/
Robyn Neblett Fanfair, MD, MPH
Captain, USPHS
Division Director
Division of HIV Prevention
National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
www.cdc.gov/hiv

/Jonathan Mermin/
Jonathan H. Mermin, MD, MPH
Rear Admiral, USPHS (retired)
Director
National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Stay connected: @DrMerminCDC & Connections