Puerto Ricans remain at high risk.

• Position: HIV

Higher HIV risk behaviors and prevalence have been reported among Puerto Rican people who inject drugs (PRPWID) since early in the HIV epidemic. Now that prevention and treatment advances have reduced HIV, researchers from New York University's Center for Drug Use and HIV Research are examining data to assess whether these disparities among Puerto Ricans and the general population persist.

"The Northeast contains the highest concentration of Puerto Ricans out of any U.S. region," says Sherry Deren, senior research scientist at the College of Nursing, and director of the Center for Drug Use and HIV Research. "Injection drug use as a risk for HIV continues to be overrepresented among Puerto Ricans. Lower availability of HIV prevention tools, such as syringe exchange and drug treatment, as well as antiretroviral therapy treatment challenges contribute to higher HIV risk and incidence for PRPWID in both Puerto Rico and here in the U.S."

The Northeast has the highest reported rates of new AIDS diagnoses, with Hispanics accounting for 27% of those diagnosed in the region. Furthermore, 48.7% of Hispanics in the U.S. with a diagnosis of HIV are located in the Northeast, which has more new infections attributed to injection drug use (15.8%) than other regions of the country (8.8%). The rate of HIV diagnoses attributed to injection drug use in Puerto Rico itself was 20.4%.

Puerto Ricans comprise...