The Gap in Rates of New HIV Cases Continues to Widen between Latino and White Men Who Have Sex With Men (MSM)

From 2010 to 2016, disparities have increased in terms of overall rates of new HIV diagnoses among California’s Latino men who have sex with men (MSM). In 2010, Latino and White MSM had fairly similar HIV rates — 17.3 new MSM cases per 100,000 White males and 20.2 per 100,000 Latino males. By 2016, rates in Whites had declined 29% to 12.2 per 100,000 males while increasing slightly among Latinos to 20.5 per 100,000 – resulting in a 68% higher rate of new HIV infections among Latino than white MSM. These data are particularly striking as, over the same period, California’s Black/African American MSM population experienced decreasing HIV rates.