MANHATTAN — New data shows a dramatic decrease in deaths among black New Yorkers living with HIV/AIDS, though the same group disproportionately accounted for half of all new HIV cases in the city, the health department announced Tuesday.
The figures, released on National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, shows a 41 percent drop in deaths among black people living with the deadly disease between 2001 and 2010.
Despite this progress, black New Yorkers — who represent 25 percent of the city's population — accounted for almost half of all new HIV diagnoses (48 percent) in 2010, a proportion that has remained almost unchanged over the past five years.
Black New Yorkers also comprised the greatest proportion of the city's residents living with HIV/AIDS in 2010 (45 percent) and 62 percent of the city's teens living with HIV/AIDS are black.
Blacks were also more likely than any other racial or ethnic group in the city to have had an HIV test in the past 12 months, the data showed.
New York City is home to the largest number of people with HIV/AIDS in the United States, with more than 110,000 residents known to be living with the disease. There are also an estimated 21 percent additional HIV-positive New Yorkers who are not aware of their status.
Any New York City resident can get a free HIV test at one of the Department of Health's Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) or Tuberculosis (TB) clinics, regardless of immigration or insurance status.
For more information about HIV testing in NYC, visit the NYC Knows Facebook page facebook.com/NYCKnows or call 311.
