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The purpose of AHEAD is to help stakeholders evaluate the nation's progress toward reaching the goals of the EHE initiative and to use the data to inform local EHE and HIV related community planning efforts.
AHEAD displays both data and goals for 57 priority areas*:
In addition to the 57 priority areas, AHEAD provides data on the remaining 43 states. The Dashboard tracks national and jurisdictional progress for the six EHE indicators leading to the overarching goal of the initiative: reducing new HIV transmissions 75% by 2025 and 90% by 2030.
*To achieve maximum impact, the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative focuses its Phase I efforts in 48 counties, Washington, DC, and San Juan, Puerto Rico, where >50% of new HIV diagnoses occurred in 2016 and 2017, and an additional seven states with a substantial number of HIV diagnoses in rural areas, bringing the total number of Phase I jurisdictions to 57.
On AHEAD, stakeholders can:
These indicators were chosen because progress on these indicators will have the greatest impact on ending the HIV epidemic in the U.S. by 2030: incidence, diagnoses, knowledge of status, linkage to HIV medical care, viral suppression, and PrEP coverage.
These six indicators were chosen with specific public health goals in mind in addition to aligning with the four key strategies of the initiative: diagnose, prevent, treat, and respond. Incidence measures the overarching goal of reducing new transmissions by 90% by 2030. Diagnoses and knowledge of status are both key to identifying which individuals need to be linked to HIV medical care and represent important steps on the HIV care continuum. Data have shown that, upon diagnosis, immediate linkage to HIV medical care and treatment results in improved HIV outcomes, so it is important to track how these indicators change over time. If scaled, viral suppression and PrEP use are the two EHE indicators that will have the greatest impact on reducing new transmissions.
For incidence, the stated EHE 2030 goal is a 90% reduction from baseline year (2017) and the stated 2025 goal is a 75% reduction; these also apply to the diagnosis indicator. The stated 2030 and 2025 goals for other EHE indicators are as follows:
The Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative focuses its efforts in 48 counties, Washington, DC, and San Juan, Puerto Rico, where >50% of HIV diagnoses occurred in 2016 and 2017, and an additional seven states with a substantial number of HIV diagnoses in rural areas, bringing the total number of Phase I jurisdictions to 57.
The 50 priority counties/areas are:
The 7 priority states are:
The data source for 5 of the 6 EHE indicators is CDC's National HIV Surveillance System (NHSS), the primary source for monitoring HIV trends in the United States. CDC funds and assists state and local health departments to collect case information.
The sixth indicator, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) coverage uses 4 data sources: IQVIA Real World Data—Longitudinal Prescriptions Database (IQVIA), American Community Survey (ACS), National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), and NHSS.
IQVIA is a pharmacy database that is used as the data source for the numerator, which is the number of persons classified as having been prescribed PrEP. Three data sources, ACS, NHANES, and NHSS are used to estimate the denominator, the number of persons with indicators for PrEP. Additionally, in one instance, Puerto Rico, ACS is used in combination with NHANES and NHSS to estimate PrEP coverage denominator for Puerto Rico.
Data for the year 2020, which coincided with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, should be interpreted with caution. The pandemic had a significant impact on access to HIV testing, care, and related services, and case surveillance activities in state and local jurisdictions. As the COVID-19 pandemic lasted beyond 2020, readers should also consider the potential influence of these pandemic effects on U.S. public health systems when interpreting HIV data for 2021–2022.
The reduction in HIV diagnoses in 2020 is likely due to disruptions in clinical care services, patient hesitancy in accessing clinical services, and shortages in HIV testing reagents/materials during the COVID-19 pandemic. Inclusion of 2020 data in trend assessments is discouraged.
Estimates of new HIV infections (HIV incidence) and knowledge of HIV status are not available for the year 2020 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on HIV testing. More time and data are needed to accurately assess COVID-19’s impact on HIV transmission in the United States.
Data may not be available for several reasons, including lack of denominator data to calculate rates and missing case data for some areas and indicators. Data may also be suppressed to protect personal privacy and to prevent revealing information that may identify specific individuals. Small data values are not available in some circumstances.
See the CDC NCHHSTP AtlasPlus Technical Notes (Section 1.8 Cell Suppression) and Glossary for more information.Each rate was calculated by dividing the total number of diagnoses (or new infections, or persons living with a diagnosis of HIV) for the calendar year by the population for that calendar year, then multiplying the result by 100,000. Rates only apply for the Incidence and Diagnoses indicators.
Rates by gender and transmission categories are not available because of the absence of denominator data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the source of denominator data used for calculating all rates in this tool.
Incidence (Rate)
Estimated number of HIV infections (diagnosed or undiagnosed) among persons aged 13 years and older during the calendar year
Diagnoses (Rate)
Number of persons aged 13 years and older with HIV confirmed by laboratory or clinical evidence during the calendar year
Each percentage was calculated by dividing the total number of cases (or new infections, or persons living with a diagnosis of HIV) for the calendar year by the population for that calendar year, then multiplying the result by 100. Percentages apply for the Knowledge of Status, Linkage to Care, Viral Suppression and PrEP Coverage indicators.
Knowledge of Status
Number of persons aged 13 years and older with diagnosed HIV who were alive at the end of the calendar year
Estimated number of persons aged 13 years and older living with HIV (diagnosed or undiagnosed) at the end of the calendar year
Linkage to Care
Number of persons aged 13 years and older linked to HIV medical care within 1 month of diagnosis during the calendar year
Number of persons aged 13 years and older with HIV confirmed by laboratory or clinical evidence during the calendar year
Viral Suppression
Number of persons aged 13 years and older with diagnosed HIV who had a viral load less than 200 copies/ml at the most recent test during the calendar year
Number of persons aged 13 years and older that had recieved an HIV diagnosis by the end of the previous year and was alive at the end of the calendar year
PrEP Coverage
Number of persons aged 16 years and older prescribed PrEP during the calendar year
Estimated number of persons aged 16 years and older with indications for PrEP during the calendar year
AHEAD can be cited in the following format, using APA style.
U.S Health and Human Services, (2019, August 18). America's HIV Epidemic Analysis Dashboard (AHEAD). Retrieved April 30, 2025, from https://ahead.hiv.gov
2022 @ America's HIV Epidemic Analysis Dashboard (AHEAD) - Paid for by Ending the HIV Epidemic.