December 1 is World AIDS Day

Join us this evening, December 1, at South Beach, 810 Pacific Street, to honor the observance.

By Barrett White

The HIV epidemic has been present in Houston for 41 years now. More than a million Americans are living with HIV, and about 10% don’t even know they’re positive. According to the most recent available data from AIDSVu, there were 954 people newly diagnosed with HIV in 2020.

According to most recent data, there are nearly 28,600 people living with HIV in Houston. The most recent data shows that in 2020, under 1,000 people were newly diagnosed in the city, which is a downward trend from the over 1,200 people who were newly diagnosed in Houston in 2018.

Even with this downward trend, the HIV epidemic continues to impact our communities every day. The work that Legacy and others do remains vitally important to supporting people living with HIV in our community. Nearly 60% of all people living with HIV in Houston have achieved undetectable status, meaning that through proper and consistent HIV treatment, their viral load has dropped so low that HIV is undetectable and untransmittable.

As wonderful as this news is, we can still strive for a percentage greater than 60.

Visit Wellness Bar by Legacy or any of Legacy’s locations near you for free one-minute HIV testing. No appointment needed! Visit our testing page for hours and locations in both Houston and Beaumont!

 

Know your status. Get tested. Get PrEP. Get treatment. End HIV. For more information on the various ways you can observe World AIDS Day with Legacy Community Health this year, including our observance at the new South Beach, please visit our website here.