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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Reduce the number of new HIV infections — HIV‑01 Data Methodology and Measurement

On this page:  About the National Data  |  Methodology  |  History

About the National Data

Data

Data Source:  National HIV Surveillance System (NHSS), CDC/NCHHSTP

Baseline: 37,000 persons aged 13 years and over were newly infected with HIV in 2017

Target: 3,000 persons

Numerator
Estimated number of new HIV infections among persons aged 13 years and over during the calendar year.
Target-setting method
Maintain consistency with national programs, regulations, policies, or laws
Target-setting method justification
The target was selected to align with the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) Initiative, which seeks to reduce new HIV infections by 90 percent by 2030 by scaling up four evidence-based strategies- diagnose, treat, prevent, and respond. The target is to reduce new HIV infections 90 percent by 2030.

Methodology

Methodology notes

Estimates were based on HIV surveillance data from the 50 states and the District of Columbia for persons aged 13 years and over. HIV incidence was determined based on the CD4-depletion model as described in the HIV Surveillance Supplemental Report: Estimated HIV Incidence and Prevalence in the United States 2015-2019. Additonal details are available on the HIV Surveillance Reports webpage. The CD4 depletion model uses first CD4 test results after HIV diagnosis data that is routinely collected as part of the National HIV Surveillance System (NHSS) by all jurisdictions. Assuming that no treatment has been received, the CD4 cell count can be used to estimate the time since infection at the date of CD4 test. The CD4 model is applied to NHSS data to estimate the distribution of delay from infection to diagnosis.

For additional information on methodology see:

Song R, Hall HI, Green TA, Szwarcwald CL, Pantazis N. Using CD4 data to estimate HIV incidence, prevalence, and percent of undiagnosed infections in the United States, J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr 2017;74(1):3–9. doi:10.1097/QAI.0000000000001151

https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/library/reports/hiv-surveillance.html

History

Comparable HP2020 objective
Retained, which includes core objectives that are continuing from Healthy People 2020 with no change in measurement.