I am riding again in the AIDS Vaccine 200 on May 20-21 to fund research to find a cure for HIV/AIDS. Many strides have been made over the last few years to make AIDS a disease that is no longer a death sentence to most who get it. But it disproportionally affects people of color and poorer populations  And much more research needs to be funded to wipe it off the face of the earth. 

Here are a few sobering statistics:

- Approximately 1.2 million people in the U.S. have HIV. About 13 percent of them don’t know it and need testing.HIV continues to have a disproportionate impact on certain populations, particularly racial and ethnic minorities and gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men.

- In 2019, an estimated 34,800 new HIV infections occurred in the United States.
- New HIV infections declined 8% from 37,800 in 2015 to 34,800 in 2019, after a period of general stability.
- HIV diagnoses are not evenly distributed across states and regions. The highest rates of new diagnoses continue to occur in the South.
- According to the CDC, of the estimated 1.2 million people with HIV (diagnosed and undiagnosed) in 2019, about 65.9% received some HIV care, 50.1% were retained in care, and 56.8% were virally suppressed or undetectable.
- There were an estimated 37.7 million [30.2–45.1 million] people living with HIV at the end of 2020, over two thirds of whom (25.4 million) are in the WHO African Region.
- South Africa has the highest number of people living with HIV in the world (7.5 million).

 I've been spending time on my bike training to ride up to 200 miles to raise funds for this cause. Can I ask for your support?

Thank you. 

Jonathan