Monday, March 20, marks National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NNHAAD) 2023, which is held each year on the first day of spring and represents a celebration of life for all people. This year’s HIV awareness day theme is “Weaving Our Horizon: Strength. CommUnity. Equity.”

“On this day, we encourage all Native communities to plan events to promote HIV testing and continue education of HIV/AIDS,” write the event organizers on NNHAAD.org. “It is also a day to honor those who are living with or affected by HIV as well as to honor those who have passed as a result of AIDS-related complications.”

Native people include American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) and Native Hawaiians.

Search #NNHAAD on social media for relevant events, discussions and sharable graphics. You can also find infographics on AIDSVu.org, which also offers interactive maps based on HIV data.

The good news regarding HIV is that AI/AN people are more likely than other Americans to have been tested for HIV. Specifically, in 2020, 48% of AI/AN people reported having been tested for HIV, compared with the national average of 39%.

According to AIDSVu.org, among AI/AN people who tested HIV positive in 2021, 15% (34 people) were ages 13 to 24, 40% (89 people) were 25 to 34, 22% (50 people) were 35 to 44, 16% (35 people) were 45 to 54 and 7% (16 people) were over 55 years old.

AI/AN women had the highest proportion (40%) of new HIV cases resulting from injection drug use. In comparison, 37% of new HIV diagnoses among white women were attributed to injection drug use, followed by 17% of multiracial women, 13% of Latina women, 9% of Black women and 7% of Asian American women.

AIDSVu points out several social determinants of health that affect HIV outcomes among AI/AN people. For example, using data from various sources covering recent years, AIDSVu notes that:

  • 24.1% of AI/AN people were living below the poverty level, which is the highest proportion of any race and ethnicity. (Nationally, about 12.8% of the U.S. population is living in poverty.)

  • 19% of AI/AN were uninsured compared with 8.7% of the U.S. population.

  • The median income for AI/AN people is $45,877 compared with the national average of $64,994.

  • 11.7% of AI/AN people were unemployed, compared with 8.1% of the U.S. population.

To learn more about other HIV awareness days, including a calendar you can download and print, visit “2023 HIV/AIDS Awareness Days.”