World AIDS Day: December 1

Established by the World Health Organization in 1988, World AIDS Day (December 1), is an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV and raise awareness of the continuing epidemic around the globe. It is an occasion to reflect about the more than 25 million people who have died from HIV/AIDS over the past decade, to consider how to better care for the 35 million people living with HIV/AIDS, and to reach out to families, friends and loved ones who have been deeply affected.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)opens in new window estimates that 1.1 million people are living with HIV in the United States. One in seven of those people living with HIV is unaware of his or her infection. New HIV diagnoses continue at far too high a level, with 38,739 Americans diagnosed with HIV in 2017.

Although the estimated number of annual HIV infections in the U.S. declined nine percent from 2010–16, HIV continues to disproportionately affect various populations with numbers and rates increasing in some populations and HIV diagnoses not evenly distributed across states and regions. For example, people in southern states accounted for more than half of new HIV diagnoses in 2017, while making up 38% of the nation’s population. Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men bear the greatest burden by risk group, representing an estimated 38,739 of these new HIV diagnoses.

The federal government, state and local public health authorities, health care organizations, community partners, and national advocacy organizations all embrace the HIV care continuumopens in new window—a planning model that identifies issues and opportunities related to improving the delivery of services to people living with HIV. Helping individuals across the continuum of care to achieve viral suppression requires attention to psychosocial issues and to identification, prevention, and treatment of mental health and substance use disorders. Demonstrated successful strategies include: public information initiatives to normalize knowing one’s HIV status; HIV/sexually-transmitted infection (STI) prevention counseling in clinical and nonclinical settings; evidence-based behavioral interventions to support engagement and retention in care; medication adherence; screening, brief intervention, and referral for alcohol, substance use, and mental health disorders; integrated care for people living with HIV; mental health services, including behavioral counseling; substance use prevention and treatment; and structural interventions to mitigate HIV/AIDS related stigma and discrimination.

Read Understanding the HIV Care Continuum (PDF, 247KB)opens in new window, a CDC fact sheet that describes the HIV care continuum, discusses various approaches and data used to develop the HIV care continuum, and explains how CDC uses the continuum to help guide the nation’s response to HIV.

Significant advances in biomedical HIV research have been made in the fight against HIV/AIDS, which has accelerated the emergence of new biomedical HIV prevention options. However, evidence-based behavioral strategies that have been proven remain critical to achieving optimal prevention and treatment outcomes.

On World AIDS Day, APA takes this opportunity to emphasize the importance of psychology and its contribution to achieving an AIDS-free generation. As APA strives to promote the application of psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve people’s lives, we call for more research on behavioral factors such as people’s willingness to start and stick with treatment, medication adherence and decision-making, and the development of combination approaches that blend behavioral, biomedical, and structural interventions to optimize prevention. APA supports full funding for integration of HIV and mental health and substance services in both domestic and global AIDS portfolios. Psychology has contributed a great deal for over 31 years and will continue to play an important role in the future.

Read APA policy statements on HIV such as Resolution on Combination Biomedical and Behavioral Approaches to Optimize HIV Prevention and Resolution Opposing HIV Criminalization which encourages and recommends the repeal and reform of HIV criminalization laws at both the federal and state level, with the intention to resolve the discrepancy between current scientific evidence on HIV transmission, and current HIV criminalization laws.

The CDC recommends routine HIV screening of adults, adolescents, and pregnant women in health care settings in the United States.

Find an HIV testing facility nearest to you and those you care about.

• Text a message with your ZIP code to “KNOWIT” (566948).
• Call 1-800-CDC-INFO (800) 232-4636.
• Find HIV testing sites and care servicesopens in new window
• Find HIV-specific state lawsopens in new window
• Visit the CDC’s HIV information websiteopens in new window