HIV and African Americans: Relationship to Cultural Competence, Implicit Bias, Social Determinants, and US Jails and Prisons

Have you ever wondered why African American women and men have the highest rate of new HIV infection in the United States? Although African Americans represent only 13.2% of the US population, African American women and men comprised an estimated 61.6% (5,128/8,328) and 40.2% (14,305/35,571) of new HIV infections, respectively. This article aims to explore this question along with proposing solutions for this national health crisis. Implementation of the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health’s 15 Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Service (CLAS) standards, adopting strategies to mitigate implicit bias, recalibrating sentencing policy for nonviolent offences, pre-exposure prophylaxis or PrEP for high-risk groups, addressing inequities related to social determinants of health, and implementing policies such as Congresswoman Maxine Waters’s Stop AIDS in Prison Act are keys to helping eliminate disparities in new HIV infection rates adversely impacting African Americans.