Visualizing Health Policy: HIV Awareness and Testing, 2013 and 2014

This Visualizing Health Policy infographic provides a snapshot of HIV-related awareness and experiences among adults in the United States and two demographic groups that make up a disproportionate share of people with HIV: black adults and gay and bisexual men. Four in 10 black adults, and more than half of gay and bisexual men said they personally know someone who is HIV-positive (HIV+) or who has died of HIV/AIDS, compared with only 28% of adults in the United States overall. In 2014, only 21% of U.S. adults were aware that consistent antiretroviral treatment can significantly reduce the risk of HIV transmission, and only 14 percent had heard of a new prevention strategy, preexposure prophylaxis. Awareness was only slightly higher among black adults and gay and bisexual men. Although a majority of U.S. adults said they have been tested for HIV, only 16 percent reported they’ve been tested within the past 12 months; these rates were higher for black adults (39%) and gay and bisexual men (30%). More than half of gay and bisexual men said they are aware that it is recommended they be tested for HIV every three to six months, yet 56 percent reported that a clinician has never suggested testing.

Visualizing Health Policy is a monthly infographic series produced in partnership with the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The full-size infographic is freely available on JAMA's website and is published in the print edition of the journal.

Filling the need for trusted information on national health issues, the Kaiser Family Foundation is a nonprofit organization based in Menlo Park, California.