The effect of educational attainment on HIV testing among African Americans.

A person is infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) every nine and half minutes in the United States. Moreover, one in five people infected with HIV in the United States does not know their status. While African Americans make up just 14% of the United States population, they constitute 44% of new HIV infections each year in the United States.4 This study examined the relationship between level of education and HIV testing among African Americans. A sample of 3,254 African American men and women between 18-84 years of age was isolated from the 2008 National Health Interview Survey and analyzed. The results revealed that African Americans with greater educational attainment (high school diploma or greater) are more likely to report having been tested for HIV than those who have not graduated from high school.