Indian Health Service The Federal Health Program for American Indians and Alaska Natives

HIV/AIDS Statistics

View the "HIV Among American Indians and Alaska Natives" fact sheet [PDF - 333 KB]

HIV is a public health issue among the approximately 5.2 million American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN), who represent about 1.7% of the US population. Compared with other racial/ethnic groups, AI/AN ranked fifth in estimated rates of HIV infection diagnoses in 2013, with lower rates than in blacks/African Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, Native Hawaiians/Other Pacific Islanders, and people reporting multiple races, but higher rates than in Asians and whites.

New HIV Infections

Overall, the effect of HIV infection on AI/AN is proportional to their US population size. However, within the overall statistics of new HIV infections and diagnoses, certain measures are disproportionate in this population group relative to other races/ethnicities.

HIV and AIDS Diagnoses and Deaths

• AI/AN men accounted for 78% (169) and AI/AN women accounted for 22% (49) of the estimated 218 AI/AN diagnosed with HIV infection in the United States in 2013.
• Of the estimated 169 HIV diagnoses among AI/AN men in 2013, most (71%; 120) were attributed to male-to-male sexual contact.
• Of the estimated 49 HIV diagnoses among AI/AN women in 2013, the majority (69%, 34) were attributed to heterosexual contact.
• In the United States in 2013, both male and female AI/AN had the highest percent of estimated diagnoses of HIV infection attributed to injection drug use, compared with all races/ethnicities. Among men, 13% (22) of new HIV diagnoses were attributed to injection drug use and 6% (10) were attributed to both male-to-male sex and injection drug use. Among women 29% (14) of new HIV diagnoses were attributed to injection drug use.
• In 2013, an estimated 104 AI/AN were diagnosed with AIDS, a number that has remained relatively stable since 2009.
• By the end of 2012, an estimated 1,867 AI/AN with AIDS had died in the United States.

Estimated Diagnoses of HIV Infection among Adult and Adolescent American Indians/Alaska Natives by Transmission Category and Sex, 2011 – United States

The terms male-to-male sexual contact (MSM) and male-to-male sexual contact and injection drug use (MSM/IDU) are used in CDC surveillance systems. They indicate the behaviors that transmit HIV infection, not how individuals self-identify in terms of their sexuality.

References
Refer to the "HIV Among American Indians and Alaska Natives" fact sheet [PDF - 333 KB]

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