Last year, 221 people were diagnosed with HIV in San Francisco, the lowest number since the epidemic began, according to a Bay Area Reporter article about an HIV epidemiology report from the city’s health department.

The good news wasn’t shared equally among all demographics. In 2017, African Americans and homeless people saw poorer health outcomes and higher HIV rates than other populations.

According to the article, 94 percent of people living with HIV in San Francisco know their status, 83 percent are linked to care within a month of learning this status and 85 percent achieve viral suppression within a year of their diagnosis.

In 2016, the city experienced a 5 percent decrease in new HIV cases, and both 2014 and 2015 saw nearly a 15 percent decline.

Other statistics from the San Francisco Department of Public Health report include:

  • 60 percent of those diagnosed with HIV in 2017 were men who have sex with men.

  • 25 percent of those diagnosed with HIV in 2017 were people who inject drugs (including gay and bisexual men).

  • 6 percent of those diagnosed with HIV in 2017 were heterosexual women and men.

  • The racial/ethnic breakdown among 2017 cases is:
    • 38 percent white
    • 25 percent Latinx
    • 17 percent Black
    • 13 percent Asian

  • African Americans had the highest rate of new infections based on population (116 per 100,000 people, compared with 39 per 100,000 for white men).

“While new infections are still dropping, the pace of decline is slowing, which will make it harder to get all the way to zero unless we continue to innovate with new programs to reach those populations where infections continue to occur,” Susan Scheer, PhD, director of the health department’s HIV Epidemiology Section, told The Bay Area Reporter.

Visit the article for many more details about the San Francisco report.