New York City Health Department Releases New HIV Surveillance Annual Report
The Health Department Commemorates World AIDS Day 2025 With Citywide Event and Release of Latest HIV Surveillance Annual Report
New Report Shows Progress Stalled in 2024 as Number of People Newly Diagnosed With HIV Increased or Remained Stable for the Fourth Consecutive Year as Cuts to Federal Funding Loom
The Federal Administration Has Proposed Eliminating the CDC Division of HIV Prevention and Cutting $755.6 Million in CDC Funding for HIV Prevention, Including Over $41 Million for the NYC Health Department
December 1, 2025 — Today, the New York City Health Department (NYC Health Department) released the 2024 HIV Surveillance Annual Report, revealing that new diagnoses in New York City increased or remained relatively stable for the fourth consecutive year, in contrast to annual declines prior to 2020. In 2024, 1,791 people were newly diagnosed with HIV in New York City, up 5.4 percent compared with 2023. Additionally, the number of new HIV infections estimated to have occurred in 2024 increased by 17 percent compared with 2023. These new data show that progress toward ending the HIV epidemic in New York City has slowed at a time when federal funding for HIV testing, treatment, and prevention is under significant threat.
“In the last three decades, we’ve made immense progress toward ending the HIV epidemic in New York City, with new diagnoses down more than 70 percent since 2001. Yet this progress has stalled as new diagnoses have increased or remained stable for the fourth year in a row while life-saving federal funding for ending the epidemic is in jeopardy,” said Acting Health Commissioner Dr. Michelle Morse. “Our health outcomes in New York City remain inequitable across race and ethnicity, neighborhood, and income, and HIV is no exception. That’s why the NYC Health Department will keep working to ensure all New Yorkers receive the HIV care and prevention efforts they deserve.”
A wide range of factors may be contributing to increases in new HIV diagnoses and estimated new infections in New York City. Zero barrier, low cost, high quality, universal health care and prevention services are still not a reality in New York City or nationwide. Poverty, homelessness or housing instability, lack of adequate health insurance or employment, and unmet supportive service needs are all additional factors that place people at increased risk of HIV. Stigma and discrimination related to HIV screening, diagnosis, and care remain challenges. Misperception of HIV risk may also be a factor, with many people and their providers underestimating risk and missing opportunities to discuss HIV prevention during clinical visits.
While the number of people taking PrEP has seen a 14-fold increase in New York City since 2014, inequities by age, gender, and race and ethnicity continue, with lower PrEP uptake among people ages 20 to 29 years, women, and Black and Latino people. Lastly, many of the groups most at risk for HIV have had negative experiences accessing care or have found the health care system to be untrustworthy.
Inequities in New HIV Diagnoses Across Race and Ethnicity, Neighborhood, and Income
The 2024 HIV Surveillance Annual Report shows ongoing 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 the report, 86 percent of people newly diagnosed with HIV in 2024 were Black or Latino/a; 91 percent of newly diagnosed women were Black or Latina; and among people newly diagnosed with HIV with known transmission category, 65 percent were men who have sex with men, 82 percent of whom were Black or Latino.
HIV continues to disproportionately affect people who live in neighborhoods with higher poverty rates, as well, with 42 percent of newly diagnosed New Yorkers living in high- or very high-poverty neighborhoods, compared with 32 percent of New York City’s population.
Furthermore, people newly diagnosed with HIV frequently report unmet supportive and social service needs. Among those newly diagnosed in 2024 who were interviewed by the NYC Health Department, 48 percent reported a lack of health insurance, 37 percent reported housing insecurity, and 13 percent reported food and nutrition needs.
Federal Funding Cuts Jeopardize Decades-Long Progress
The new report showing an increase in people newly diagnosed with HIV in New York City comes as the federal administration has proposed shuttering the entire Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s Division of HIV Prevention and fully eliminating $755.6 million in CDC funding for HIV prevention. If enacted, the NYC Health Department would lose over $41 million in funding used to identify people newly diagnosed with HIV, connect them to treatment, and offer partner services; track timely linkage to care and viral suppression among people with HIV; routinize HIV testing in hospitals and clinics and expand testing in nontraditional settings; provide HIV testing and navigation support for HIV PrEP, emergency PEP, and treatment at the NYC Sexual Health Clinics; support PlaySure Network 2.0 providers to deliver HIV and sexual health services; and distribute free safer sex products.
While the United States has made immense progress in HIV prevention and care in the last 40 years, these actions at the federal level further jeopardize this progress:
- Cuts to Medicaid spending and stricter eligibility requirements are projected to result in a loss of coverage for many New Yorkers, including those with HIV. Medicaid is the largest source of insurance coverage for people with HIV in the U.S.
- H.R. 1 did not provide an express categorical exemption from forthcoming Medicaid work requirements for people with HIV.
- Attempts to undermine public health infrastructure through proposed federal budget cuts, layoffs at the CDC, and the cancellation of critical medical and public health research funding through the National Institutes of Health.
- The potential impending expiration of tax credits that make the Affordable Care Act health premiums affordable are set to expire at the end of the year, which is expected to increase New Yorkers’ premiums by nearly 40 percent, according to the NYC Independent Budget Office.
- A new directive from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that puts grant funding for supportive, stable housing at risk for thousands of vulnerable New Yorkers, including people with HIV.
These enacted and impending changes are expected to reduce access to the affordable health care and supportive services many rely on to stay healthy and safe, placing people at increased risk of HIV infection and poorer HIV-related health outcomes.
Recognizing World AIDS Day Through Action
To help sound the alarm on the increase in new HIV diagnoses and how federal changes would impact progress toward ending the HIV epidemic, the NYC Health Department, health care and social service providers, and community partners hosted the World AIDS Day 2025 citywide event at the LGBT Center in Manhattan. Experts and advocates in attendance strategized opportunities for government and community to come together to address slowed progress toward New York City’s ending the HIV epidemic goals.
Attendees underscored the need for community-based organizations serving those disproportionately affected by HIV to double down on their efforts to build trust and effectively communicate the importance of HIV testing, treatment, and prevention services. Others noted that these efforts will be effective only if well-resourced and if accompanied by increased access to safe and affordable housing, health insurance, gainful employment, and other supportive services to allow people to prioritize their health, including their sexual health. Attendees called on providers to adopt the GOALS Framework for Sexual History Taking in Primary Care to universalize and normalize HIV prevention conversations and interventions in health care settings, regardless of perceived risk. All attendees agreed on the importance of renewed calls for New Yorkers to get tested so they know their status and can access the HIV treatment and prevention services they need to be healthy and thrive.
The NYC Health Department’s 2024 HIV Surveillance Annual Report, and other surveillance materials are available at nyc.gov/hivreports. For more information on HIV, visit nyc.gov/health/HIV.
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MEDIA CONTACT: PressOffice@health.nyc.gov