There is an estimated 1.2 million people infected with HIV in the United States. That’s according to a new report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is sobering news to anyone who thought infection rates were on the decline.

The findings are based on 2008 numbers, which put the total at 1,178,350 total infections. However, the impact of the statistics are diluted somewhat by the statement that “20 percent of them don’t know they are infected.” So the numbers are projected figures, not actual findings.

It is likely that these numbers are reasonably accurate as the CDC has studied infection rates since they first announced that HIV was on our shores in 1981. It is almost thirty years ago to the day that researchers announced the first HIV infected person in our country. Since then, almost 600,000 people have died as a result.

Conservative estimates puts infection rates at around 50,000 new cases a year. That’s one person every nine minutes. Many of the new cases come from drug use, but there are still too many being infected through sexual contact.

According to Dr Michael Kolber, a professor of medicine and director of the Comprehensive AIDS Program at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, most infections are completely unnecessary.

“People do not need to get HIV, it’s a preventable disease,” Kolber said. “But we also need to identify individuals with HIV and get them into care, which will reduce transmission.”

HIV helped bring the term “prevention is better than the cure” to popular culture. It is still the case now. With advances in medical science, drug therapy and new antiviral drugs, it is possible to prevent the spread of HIV. This is something that scientists and society at large needs to get into the minds of the vulnerable groups.

Simple measures like being careful with needles, always using a fresh one, practicing safe sex and being tested regularly are just some of the ways people can minimize their exposure to the disease.

Drugs are available to lower the risk of infection. Antiviral drugs have been proven to prevent transmission, but availability is limited. Our healthcare system is only geared up to look after those who can afford it, which is why the most at risk groups are those that cannot.

Data from the National HIV Behavioral Surveillance System, which collected data on gay and bisexual men in 21 major cities throughout the country showed that their control group had a 7 percent infection rate. That’s despite increased education, awareness and availability of condoms.

Researchers now conclude that not enough gay and bisexual men are getting regular HIV tests. Yet, even among those who did get tested in the past year, many are newly infected. There is still much to do in increasing awareness of the disease, and keeping it in the minds of themost vulnerable groups.

The research indicates that racial attitudes towards health may have a part to play. Of all gay and bisexual men who participated in the research, African-Americans were most likely to be infected but unaware of their infection (14.5 percent), followed by Hispanic men (6.7 percent) and white men (3 percent).

“African-Americans make up about 12 percent of the population, but 50 percent of the new infections,” Kolber said. “And it is usually in the urban areas among the lower socioeconomic, lower educated individuals,” he added.

African-American men are disproportionately represented in HIV infection rates. Many women are infected from men, with needle use a close second. Attitudes towards gay relationships in African-American neighborhood pushes the problem underground.

Add to that the heightened levels of poverty, lack of adequate healthcare and there is a distinct challenge to address here. Among Hispanics, the problem is much the same, although the statistics are different.

An estimated 1 in 36 Hispanic men will be diagnosed with HIV, compared to 1 in 106 women. Of those men, 75 percent of the infections will be through male to male sex. Again, the attitude in Latino society towards gay sex, poverty levels and poor access to healthcare exacerbates this problem.

It is, as always, those on the lower steps of the social ladder that are most at risk. We have much yet to do to reach these people and educate them on the risks. We also have to make great efforts to reach out to these groups and make testing and treatment available to them.

There are already many projects making clean needles and condoms available to all parts of society, but it seems this needs work too. It’s ironic that as one of the world’s leading donors to HIV and AIDS causes around the world, we can’t seem to take care of our own.

A different CDC report, published in 2010, said that infection rates in America’s poorest neighborhoods is around 2.1 percent, which is 4 times the national average. Of these infections, three quarters of them were homosexual or bisexual males.

Drug use contributes up to 20 percent of new HIV infections each year. Many other countries in the world fund programs that provided clean needles to addicts. This was shown to reduce infection rates through dirty needles. Until 2009, such programs were barred from federal funding, so were purely small-scale private or charity-run. That ban was lifted in 2009, so we should see funding made available.

Despite our wealth, despite our leadership in technology, medicine and drug therapy, the United States has the highest per capita HIV infection rate in the world. The perception is that HIV and AIDS is an African problem. That is something that needs to change if we are to combat this infection.

With President Obama having launched his National HIV/AIDS Strategy in July 2010, it is hoped that we can get our own house in order. With complaints already from AIDS charities saying it isn’t enough, and it doesn’t mention the funding, only time will tell how effective it really is.