Aids is a mostly gay disease

What are the obstacles to this population taking greater advantage of them? Nearly half 47 percent of gay and bisexual men ages 35 and older say they have lost someone close to them to the disease, while just 8 percent of those ages say the same. Just a third of gay and bisexual men realize that new infections are on the rise among gay men.

Condom use was spotty at best since there is no chance of pregnancy. Highlights Of Survey Findings The survey allows us to provide some basic demographic information about gay and bisexual men, and finds that just over half 53 percent report being in a committed relationship, including one in five 20 percent who say they are married.

What do gay and bisexual men know and think about HIV, and about these new treatments? From the earliest days of the HIV epidemic, gay and bisexual men have been among the hardest-hit groups in the United States. Few gay and bisexual men report talking much at all about HIV with friends or even with sexual partners.

Nearly half 46 percent of gay and bisexual men overall say they use condoms all or most of the time, although about a quarter 24 percent say they never use condoms. However, we note some areas where responses differ significantly for some broad categories, including white men compared to members of racial and ethnic minority groups, and younger men ages compared with those ages 35 and older.

In the United States, gay and bisexual men are the population group most affected by HIV. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that all sexually active gay and bisexual men get tested for HIV at least once a year. At first, HIV was even called GRID (gay-related immune deficiency).

Globally, from to , HIV diagnoses increased by 25% among gay and bisexual men, even as infections in other groups declined. HIV rates in gay men are higher than in all other groups. Only about a quarter 26 percent know about PrEP, a recently approved medication that people who are HIV-negative can take to lower their risk of becoming infected.

While seven in ten say they have been tested at some point in their lives, just three in ten 30 percent say they were tested in the last year, including 19 percent who say their most recent test was within the past 6 months. Condoms obviously do a lot more but there's much less incentive for a gay male to use a condom without proper education on STI prevention.

While gay men make up just 2 percent of the U. Gay men are the only group in the country among whom new infections are on the rise; between , new infections rose 12 percent overall among gay men, and 22 percent among younger gay men ages People living with HIV can reduce the risk of transmitting the infection to others by up to 96 percent if they are taking consistent ARV treatment 5 , and for those who are HIV negative, new pre-exposure prophylaxis PrEP offers a daily pill that can help them to stay negative.

Most gay and bisexual men are not aware of current treatment recommendations for those who are HIV-positive, or of the latest developments in reducing new infections. Younger gay and bisexual men are twice as likely as older men to say they have never been tested for HIV 44 percent of those under age 35 versus 21 percent of those ages 35 and over.

Learn about the biological, sexual, social, and psychological causes of this disparity. The relatively modest sample size of the survey men total limits our ability to provide results among all subgroups of interest within the overall population of gay and bisexual men.

7. Older men are also somewhat more likely than younger men to say they know someone currently living with HIV 54 percent versus 39 percent. Men of color are more likely than white men to report consistent condom use 61 percent versus 39 percent. 6 In the United States, gay and bisexual men make up nearly 70% of all new HIV diagnoses each year; among them 31% are Black and 25% are Latinx.

Some highlights of the survey are presented here, and a more comprehensive examination of the survey findings follows. Men ages 35 and older are more likely to support widespread use of PrEP 64 percent say it should be used widely and 35 percent think it should be used on a more limited basis , while those under age 35 lean in the other direction 56 percent say it should be used on a more limited basis and 43 percent think it should be used as widely as possible.

Fully three in ten 30 percent say they have never been tested for HIV. Highlights Of Differences Between Groups The relatively modest sample size of the survey men total limits our ability to provide results among all subgroups of interest within the overall population of gay and bisexual men.

Just one in ten know someone, including themselves, who has taken PrEP, and eight in ten say they have heard only a little or nothing at all about the new medication. To help answer these questions, the Kaiser Family Foundation conducted a survey of gay and bisexual men in the U.

The survey was conducted July August 3, with a sample of men who self-identified as either gay or bisexual using a nationally representative, probability-based Internet panel more details available in the Survey Methodology section of this report. Twelve percent live in a household with at least one child under the age of However, just about a third 35 percent say they are personally concerned about becoming infected, while more than half 56 percent say they are not personally concerned.