In a report that dramatized some well-known statistics, the institute said that mainly because of the HIV epidemic the hypothetical Black America would be below 104 other countries in life expectancy.
Nearly 600,000 black Americans are living with HIV and up to 30,000 are newly infected every year, according to CDC figures quoted by the report, Left Behind! Black America: A Neglected Priority in the Global AIDS Epidemic.
In 2006, for instance, 49% of all new diagnoses were among blacks, compared with 30% for whites, 18% for Latinos, and 2% for other ethnicities, the report said.
In the same year, the estimated infection rate per 100,000 adults was 85.6 among blacks, 33.7 among Latinos, and 9.6 among whites, the report notes, adding that one in every two Americans living with HIV is black.
"AIDS in America is a black disease," the report said.
The report said U.S. efforts to fight the pandemic have been largely focused outside the country's own borders and the response to the epidemic at home has been "timid and lethargic."
The report came as President Bush was expected to sign a bill approving a sharp scale-up of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to $48 billion over five years.
At the same time, the institute said, domestic spending on prevention and care has been cut in real terms.
The report also came as the United Nations released its 2008 report on the state of the pandemic, which continues to grow, although more people worldwide are getting antiretroviral drugs. (See: Millions Getting HIV Treatment Outpaced by New Infections)
The U.N. said that for every two patients who received treatment, five people became newly infected.
- Reviewed by Robert Jasmer, MD Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco