Context (archaeology)

Health care

Biology

Public relations

Gender studies

Racism

Virology

Archaeology

Social determinants of health

Disadvantage

Paleontology

Mainstream

Structural violence

Politics

Geography

Political science

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)

Criminology

Sociology

Medicine

Current Opinion in HIV and AIDS

Purpose of review We review the recent theoretical and empirical literature on structural racism, social determinants of health frameworks within the context of HIV prevention and treatment, and criticism of the national responses to the US epidemic. Recent findings In line with growing mainstream attention to the role of structural racism and health inequities, recent editorials and studies cite ending structural racism as an essential step to ending the US HIV epidemic. Recent studies demonstrate that barriers rooted in structural racism such as incarceration, housing instability, police discrimination, neighborhood disadvantage, health service utilization and community violence, and poor or no access to social services, transportation, and childcare, are barriers to HIV prevention. Recent articles also criticize national responses to HIV such as the ending the HIV epidemic (EHE) and National HIV/AIDS Strategy plans for failing to address structural racism and prioritize community engagement in EHE efforts. Summary Collectively, the articles in this review highlight a growing consensus that the US has no real chance of EHE for all, absent a meaningful and measurable commitment to addressing structural racism and intersectional discrimination as core determinants of HIV, and without more equitable engagement with community-based organizations and communities disproportionately affected by HIV.

Ending the HIV epidemic for all, not just some: structural racism as a fundamental but overlooked social-structural determinant of the US HIV epidemic