WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. official report showed that the dramatic decline in the country's annual HIV infections had stalled with new infections stabilizing in recent years, bringing more challenges for its plan to substantially reduce the HIV infections in coming decade.
After about five years of substantial declines, the number of HIV infections began to level off in 2013 at about 39,000 infections per year, according to a report published on Wednesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The report was based on HIV trends in America from 2010 to 2016 and it came after President Donald Trump announced a new campaign to end the HIV epidemic in the United States by 2030, reducing new HIV infections by 90 percent over 10 years.
Data indicated that annual HIV infections declined in some populations, but increased in others. The infections increased about 65 percent among both black and Latino gay and bisexual males aged 25 to 34, according to the report.
The decline in HIV infections plateaued because effective HIV prevention and treatment are not adequately reaching those who could most benefit from them, according to CDC estimate.
Also, those disparity remained in rural areas and in the South and among disproportionately affected populations like African-Americans and Latinos.
The Kaiser Family Foundation, a non-profit organization on health care issues, cited "poverty, lack of access to health care, lack of awareness of HIV status, and stigma" as challenges for the epidemic among the most vulnerable communities.
Medicaid is "the single largest source of coverage for people with HIV in the U.S.," according to Kaiser Family Foundation, but the Trump administration, despite its ambitious HIV reduction plan, encouraged states to cut fundings for the program.
