PHILADELPHIA—The Health Department announced that 332 Philadelphians were diagnosed with HIV in 2020. This represents a 25.6% decrease in cases of newly diagnosed HIV from 2019, but this may be due to a similar decrease in testing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
HIV continues to disproportionately affect racial and ethnic minorities, with rates of new HIV diagnoses and rates of people living with HIV highest for non-Hispanic Blacks in Philadelphia (35.1 per 100,000 and 1,841.3 per 100,000, respectively). The demographic in Philadelphia with the highest risk of living with HIV is non-Hispanic Black men who have sex with men, with a prevalence of 29,986.5 per 100,000. People who inject drugs continue to see increases in new HIV diagnoses, increasing by 181% between 2016 and 2019.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has put a severe strain on the local HIV prevention and care infrastructure,” said Acting AIDS Activities Coordinating Office Director Dr. Kathleen Brady. “However, we believe that the community-developed and -driven Ending the HIV Epidemic plan will continue to translate into continued real drops in new HIV infections, increased linkage to care, and increased viral suppression.”
The Health Department has identified and implemented a number of activities to direct resources to mitigate the impact of COVID among people living with HIV and those at-risk for new infection. These new efforts include the creation of low threshold sexual health sites and the nPEP Center of Excellence, a new Field Services Program, and the expansion of the HIV self-test kit program.
Of the 332 Philadelphians newly diagnosed with HIV in 2020, the largest proportion of new diagnoses were among men (75.6%), non-Hispanic Blacks (66.8%), men who have sex with men (53.5%), and people age 30-39 (28.6%). Of the 18,621 people living with diagnosed HIV in Philadelphia, 72.1% were assigned male sex at birth, 63.7% are non-Hispanic Black, 54.8% are aged 50 and older, and 38.9% are men who have sex with men.
The Health Department is working to quantify the true impact of COVID-19 on HIV prevention, testing, and care services in Philadelphia, however 2020 data should be interpreted with caution.
The full 2020 HIV Surveillance Report: HIV in Philadelphia is available for download on the Health Department’s website.
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