Around 1.2 million Americans are living with HIV.
While Black Americans make up just 12% of the population of the United States, they disproportionately make up 40% of the population of those living with HIV.
The numbers are even starker in Maryland.
At the end of 2022, the latest data that is available, 31,616 Marylanders were living with HIV. More than 23,000 of them were Black Marylanders, more than 74%.
Black Marylanders make up 31.7% of the state's overall population.
On HIV.gov, an article addresses the disparity.
"Some population groups have higher rates of HIV in their communities, thus raising the risk of new infections with each sexual or injection drug use encounter. Additionally, a range of social, economic, and demographic factors such as stigma, discrimination, income, education, and geographic region can affect people’s risk for HIV as well as their HIV-related outcomes," it states.
The national strategy to fight HIV/AIDS in the United States specifically notes the racial disparity and has five priority populations singled out in the strategy including Black women and Black, Latino, and American Indian/Alaska Native men who have sex with men.
You can find resources for testing and treating HIV in Maryland, here.
