The city’s latest HIV Surveillance Annual Report cites an increase in the number of residents diagnosed with the disease, while health officials voice concerns over looming federal budget cuts.
Across New York City, 1,791 people were newly diagnosed with HIV in 2024, representing a 5.4% increase from 2023.
On Staten Island, there were 39 new diagnoses of HIV reported in 2024, with 2,608 borough residents living with HIV and 44 HIV-related deaths, the data shows.
The report showed stark racial and ethnic disparities in new HIV diagnoses “due to structural racism, poverty, the legacy of housing segregation, unfair access to health care, and other systemic factors,” according to a press release issued by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Roughly 86% of people newly diagnosed with HIV in 2024 were Black or Latino/Latina, according to the report.
The data comes as federal funding cuts loom.
The federal government has proposed shuttering the entire Division of HIV Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and fully eliminating $755 million in CDC funding for HIV prevention, according to reports.
If enacted, the city’s health department would lose over $41 million in funding, which city officials say is used to identify people newly diagnosed with HIV, connect them to treatment and offer partner services.
Over the past quarter century, numbers across the five boroughs have improved drastically, data shows.
Since 2001, new diagnoses across New York City are down more than 70%, data shows. However, progress has stalled, city health experts say.
“In the last three decades, we’ve made immense progress toward ending the HIV epidemic in New York City,” said Acting Health Commissioner Dr. Michelle Morse. “Yet this progress has stalled as new diagnoses have increased or remained stable for the fourth year in a row.”