Observing National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

Today is the 12th annual National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NBHAAD) and the theme for this year’s day is “I am my Brother/Sister’s Keeper: Fight HIV/AIDS.” We know from our report, Injustice at Every Turn: A look at Black Respondents in the National Transgender Discrimination Survey, that black transgender people are affected by HIV in devastating numbers. More than one-fifth of respondents were living with HIV (20.23 percent), compared to a rate of 2.64 percent for transgender respondents of all races, 2.4 percent for the general black population, and 0.60 percent of the general U.S. population.

We worked with the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) and the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) to release the groundbreaking report. Read more from NBJC on events associated with NBHAAD.

The White House is also commemorating this day, read the blog post by Valerie Jarrett, senior advisor to the president, on the administration’s efforts to fight HIV/AIDS in the black community.