Shocking rise in new HIV diagnoses in USA

The day the AIDS conference opened in Mexico City, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released its long-delayed, revised estimate of annual new HIV infections in the United States.

The report reveals 56,300 new infections in 2006, a 40 percent increase over the previous estimate of 40,000 new infections.

The increase results from improved HIV surveillance and estimation methods, but also clearly shows that more people are at risk of becoming infected with HIV than previously suspected. There are currently 1.2 million people in the USA living with HIV. This sugggests the US has not employed the most effective HIV prevention interventions available.

Federal AIDS funding has remained flat since 2001 despite inflation and the increasing number of Americans living with HIV.

Mark Cloutier, CEO of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation said "We must also acknowledge that some communites are bearing the brunt of this epidemic, especially African Americans, gay men and the poor." He called for a national AIDS strategy  with targets, measurable outcomes, a timeline for action, increased fundign, and a focus on those most a risk  in order to have a meaningful effect on the US epidemic."

The re-financing of the $48 billion US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Release (PEPFAR) which was signed into law last Wednesday requires every beneficiary country to have a national AIDS plan, something the United States still lacks.