As HIV Diagnoses Rise in Latino Community, Hudson County Looks to Meet Needs

Living with HIV in 2024 is very different from 40 years ago, when the virus was just emerging.

About 85% According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Americans on HIV treatment today have viral loads low enough to not transmit the disease. Back then, an HIV diagnosis was likely a death sentence.

But to achieve undetectable status, you have to know you’re HIV-positive in the first place, and nationwide, some Latinos who have recently arrived in the United States are getting tested for the first time — and testing positive.

Hudson County is no exception to this trend. A disproportionate number of HIV-positive cases among Latino gay men has led to an increased focus of outreach, testing, and treatment resources, prioritizing Hispanic residents.

“We’re seeing an increase in Latino men who have sex with men,” said Elvis Guiracocha, community health program manager at Hudson Pride. “These are Spanish-speaking, undocumented people from different parts of the world. They’ve probably been living with HIV for many years.”

Awareness-raising efforts have been particularly accelerated in the very Latino Northern part of the department, with the opening of new offices and programming to meet the needs of at-risk Latino residents by providing resources directly in their neighborhoods.

Last year, 60 Hudson County residents tested positive for HIV and were eligible for a care program designed for low-income residents, regardless of legal status, said Chad Balodis, program manager for the Hudson County HIV/AIDS Planning Council.

Of these 60 cases, 54% were Latino, he said, which is disproportionately higher than the roughly 40% of county residents who are Latino.

The total number of new cases reported in Hudson County was 156, 124 and 54 in 2019, 2020 and 2021, the most recently available state data that was likely skewed by the COVID-19 lockdown.

Nationally, Latino men had the highest rate of new HIV diagnoses among gay and bisexual men in 2022, according to KFF Health News and The Associated Press, which analyzed federal data.

Jersey City Medical Center has successfully identified HIV cases by adding an HIV lab test to all emergency room blood draws for patients in a certain age range, Balodis said this had already resulted in 50 new diagnoses in the past three months.

The trend, he said, is alarming but not unexpected. His planning council helps allocate federal funds for HIV programs in the county, and it has already targeted the needs of the Latino community.

One method is to funnel funds to North Hudson through a new West New York site for Hyacinth, a local HIV nonprofit. The site opened more than a year ago.

Having the testing done at nonprofits rather than government buildings also lowers the barrier to entry for undocumented residents who may fear any interaction with the government, Balodis said.

“It was about building that trust,” Balodis said.

North Hudson Communication Action Corp. (NHCAC) had The hospital diagnosed nine cases of HIV last year and has diagnosed seven so far this year, with the year only halfway through. The majority of Hudson County patients reside in West New York, Union City, North Bergen and Guttenberg.

“Most of the time, it’s a new patient to us,” says Iris Carbone, a supervisor with the NHCAC’s high-risk navigation team, which informs patients of their diagnosis and connects them with treatment resources. “They say, ‘Oh, I came (to the United States) a year ago,’ or ‘I spent two years in this country.’”

Hudson Pride launched a rapid testing program last year and found that many undocumented residents who migrated from Latin America had never been tested for HIV before. Guiracocha said.

It started with a Latino HIV The support group was created in January and connects every patient who tests positive with resources to begin treatment. Hudson Pride ensures that at least one Spanish-speaking staff member is present in each of its programs.

Encouraging people to get tested is the goal of the advertising campaigns Hudson Pride is now running on jitney buses and on dating apps, Guiracocha said.

Newly diagnosed HIV patients are often fearful, Carbone and Guiracocha said. Informing them of medical advances that can help them become undetectable is an important part of modern treatment.

But many undocumented patients who finally learn they are HIV-positive actually contracted the disease years ago, Guiracocha said. Helping them know their status is key to connecting them to treatment as early as possible so they can achieve undetectable status sooner.

He recalls a recent arrival from Venezuela who came to Hudson Pride for help finding housing and ended up getting a rapid test while he was visiting. The result was positive.

“Even though it was not the initial need for which they came to our center, they left very grateful,” Guiracocha said.