September 27 is National Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, founded by the National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA) in 2008. The purpose of the observance is to raise gay men’s awareness of the HIV epidemic and the role they can play in bringing it to an end.

HIV/AIDS in Men Who Have Sex with Men

Gay and bisexual men of all races continue to be the risk group most severely affected by HIV.

• MSM account for nearly half of the 1.1 million people living with HIV in the U.S.
• 63 percent of all new HIV infections in the U.S. are in MSM.
• Young MSM account for 72% of all new HIV infections among persons aged 13-24 years.
• From 2008 to 2010, new HIV infections among young black/African American gay and bisexual men increased 20%.
• Young, black MSM now account for more new infections in the U.S. than any other subgroup by race/ethnicity, age, and sex.

Take Action

1. Plan or participate in an awareness event.
2. Spread the word in your community and online. CDC has several campaigns that offer information, downloadable posters, banner ads, and other resources:
   • Testing Makes Us Stronger for black gay and bisexual men.
   • Reasons/Razones for Latino gay and bisexual men.
   • Let’s Stop HIV Together, which includes the voices of MSM.
   
    
   
    
   
   
3. Participate in CDC’s live Google Hangout on Air on September 25 from 2:00 p.m. ET. RSVP today!
   
   CDC leaders and partners will discuss innovative HIV prevention activities aimed at reducing HIV-related inequities among gay and bisexual men. Participants will share their knowledge on topics including:
   • The latest HIV testing strategy for couples.
   • The use of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention.
   • The Reasons/Razones campaign.

NPIN RESOURCES

• Download materials from NPIN’s Materials Database.
• Find an HIV test site at hivtest.cdc.gov; a Spanish site is also available.
• Update or list your agency as an HIV test site on cdcnpin.org and hivtest.cdc.gov.