From crisis to cascading disaster: the silently worsening U.S. Latino HIV epidemic

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Dec. 1 marks World AIDS Day, a time for global solidarity, remembrance, and renewed commitment to ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

In the United States, significant advances have been achieved in reducing new infections and supporting individuals living with HIV to prevent avoidable deaths.

However, Latino communities in the U.S. have faced an escalating HIV crisis for over a decade. Estimated annual new HIV infections from 2010 to 2022 decreased by 19% overall in the U.S., but increased by 12% among Latinos. Among Latino men who have sex with men (MSM), estimated annual HIV infections during this period rose by 24%, while there was a 15% decline among MSM nationwide. For Latino MSM aged 25-34 years, the estimated increase was 95%.

Despite these troubling trends, the Latino HIV crisis has gone largely unnoticed and unaddressed. Today, this already serious situation is worsening at a pace that should not be ignored.

The Latino HIV crisis has evolved into a cascading disaster—a series of interconnected breakdowns across health. These social and structural systems amplify one another, making the problem increasingly difficult to solve. These trends are alarming and reflect a national failure of HIV prevention and treatment systems to meet the needs of the Latino community adequately.

Several factors drive the current Latino HIV Cascading Disaster in the U.S., including:

• Latino Invisibility: Aside from Latino immigration, the Latino community in the U.S. remains largely underrepresented in the media and in public discourse. There has been a persistent shortage of news coverage addressing the health and well-being needs of the U.S. Latino community.
• Latino false narratives: Negative and misleading perceptions of Latinos have intensified, driven in part by harmful federal rhetoric and policies. False claims that Latinos “take more than they contribute,” combined with anti-immigrant and de facto anti-Latino government actions, fuel fear and distrust. These stereotypes and structural hostilities directly undermine the community’s health and well-being, including access to HIV prevention and treatment.
• Societal Inaction: Despite a well-documented HIV crisis among Latinos in the U.S., the national response has lagged, allowing preventable harm to continue unchecked. Effective, national programs created by and for Latinos to prevent new infections and ensure treatment for Latinos living with HIV have not been funded and implemented—fueling today’s Latino HIV Cascading Disaster.

New Resources, Tools to End HIV Among Latinos: The Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing Center for Latino Adolescent and Family Health (CLAFH) has developed a new set of resources aimed at raising awareness and encouraging multi-sector action to end the Latino HIV Cascading Disaster. CLAFH’s new Cascading Disaster microsite, available at CLAFH.org, offers a solutions-focused toolkit and features “Inside the Cascading Disaster,” a new video produced in partnership with Bienestar Human Services, a Los Angeles community-based social services organization focused on improving health outcomes for Latino and LGBTQ+ people.

The video showcases stories of Latinos impacted by and working to reverse the current Latino HIV crisis. Collectively, these new resources address current gaps in the national response and provide evidence-informed guidance on how best to eliminate HIV in the Latino community.

Newswise information from the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing.

The Gayly online. 12/01/2025 @ 2:36 p.m. CST.