CNN
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When Felix Hernandez learned he was HIV-positive, he had no one to rely on. In the years since his diagnosis, he has found a way to support others who may have felt alone by helping administer HIV tests at a clinic in Tennessee.
“In my case, I had no one to rely on except the medical staff,” Hernandez, a 31-year-old heating, ventilation and air conditioning technician, told CNN. “Sometimes you need someone who can understand you and unfortunately, even though the medical staff can be a great support system, sometimes they’re not positive and they don’t understand what you’re going through.”
In the two years he’s been working at the clinic, Hernandez said he’s noticed that HIV infections among Latinos are becoming more common.
Latinos or Hispanics make up less than 20% of the U.S. population, but they accounted for nearly a third of new HIV diagnoses in 2022, according to the latest figures released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Compared to all racial and ethnic groups, Hispanics have the second highest rate of new HIV diagnoses – there were about 19 new diagnoses per 100,000 people, which is nearly double the national rate – and new diagnoses are increasing rapidly.
In the United States, new HIV diagnoses remained relatively stable overall between 2018 and 2022, but they increased by 19% among Latinos or Hispanics.
In contrast, Black people had the highest share of HIV diagnoses in 2022, but new cases have declined in recent years, down nearly 6% since 2018, the data show.
Daniel Castellanos, vice president of research and innovation for the Latino Commission on AIDS, a nonprofit organization, said the estimates confirm a trend that has concerned Latino advocates and health policy experts for years.
A trend he said has been fueled by high numbers of uninsured people, socioeconomic instability and the need for more mental health and substance abuse services.
According to a survey by the U.S. Census Bureau, the uninsured rate among Hispanic or Latino Americans was nearly 18% in 2021, making it one of the highest in the country compared to other racial and ethnic groups. Overall, an estimated 8.6% of the U.S. population was uninsured in 2021.
“For example, homelessness or housing stability are major issues, or adherence to your medication if you don’t have a place to stay, or (if) you’re staying with family members and constantly thinking about what people are going to say if they see you taking this medication,” Castellanos said.
When Hernandez tested positive in 2019, the stigma and misinformation surrounding HIV that often spreads in Latino communities played a significant role in how he handled his diagnosis.
“I had emotions like, ‘Nobody will love me. I won’t have children, I’m HIV positive.’ It was more like guilt and disgust at the same time, but it was something I had to overcome,” Hernandez said.
“I didn’t know how to do it, but just keep quiet, go about my daily life and hide it,” he added, saying it took him several years to tell his parents, partly because of how they reacted when he told them he was gay.
Latino rights advocates and health policy experts said young gay Latino men, transgender women and recently settled immigrants are among those most affected by HIV.
In 2022, Latino men who have sex with men accounted for more new HIV diagnoses than any other race or ethnicity, according to CDC data.
Edgar Longoria, executive director of Entre Hermanos, a Seattle nonprofit serving the Latino LGBTQ community, said not feeling comfortable sharing information with loved ones or others is one of the biggest barriers facing people at risk for HIV and those living with HIV.
“In Latin America, there is a Catholic influence, so it’s taboo to talk about sex at home if you’re heterosexual, and it’s even less common to talk about sex if we’re talking about gay sex,” Longoria said.
In the case of LGBTQ Latinos, they overwhelmingly prefer anonymous HIV services and often check to see if anyone will see them entering an LGBTQ resource office or clinic out of fear, he added.
Along with the growing Latino population in the Seattle area, Entre Hermanos has seen an increase in HIV cases in recent years. A decade ago, the nonprofit’s medical staff treated an average of 10 people. That number has grown to nearly 200 clients, said Martha Zuñiga, Entre Hermanos’ deputy director.
For Zuñiga, who began advocating for HIV education and access to care after losing seven close friends during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, the statistics in Seattle and across the country are alarming.
“It’s really sad for me to see that this story never ends. Even though we have a lot of resources in the world, they’re not in the right places, in the right hands or on the right track to better serve these communities,” Zuñiga said.
Entre Hermanos offers several services, including testing, HIV medical case management, support groups and access to pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP — a medication that reduces the risk of contracting HIV through sex or injection drug use by about 99 percent when used as prescribed, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But Zuñiga believes more institutions and the community at large are needed to increase awareness of HIV and PrEP.
“There are young people who still think that HIV is a death sentence and people who grew up during the HIV epidemic never received the correct information about what HIV is and how to protect themselves,” Zuñiga said. “It seems like they don’t get any sex education at home and it’s the same at school.”
In a 2021 report, the CDC said that awareness of PrEP and referrals to PrEP providers among Latinos who were tested for HIV at CDC-funded sites in 2019 were low compared to their white counterparts.
Last month, at a meeting of the President’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, co-chair Vincent Guilamo-Ramos addressed rising HIV rates among Latinos, saying the country
“We cannot end the HIV epidemic” without increased attention to the Latino community.
Guilamo-Ramos outlined nine steps to “reverse the trend,” including distributing resources equitably to the Latino community, removing barriers to care and creating what he called a “Latino HIV workforce.”
“I think most of the time when you hear about Latinos, historically you talk about the border and migration. We have a lot of other needs and issues, we need to start making those much more visible,” Guilamo-Ramos said at the meeting.
Longoria said he encourages health care providers to routinely offer HIV and STD testing, and to consider offering it alongside common tests such as blood sugar and cholesterol.
“They have to offer it, because if they don’t offer it, our community won’t ask for it,” Longoria said.
For now, Hernandez says he’s taking every opportunity to help raise awareness about HIV in the Latino community.
“There’s a huge community out there, outside of the LGBTQ community, that’s there to support us. There’s so many agencies out there and you know, it’s like a whole new family, so you’re not alone. We’re all in this together and we’re going to be there together until we eradicate HIV,” Hernandez said.
CNN’s Deidre McPhillips contributed to this report.