An emergency department HIV research program
The HIVer Project

An estimated 1 in 8 Americans living with HIV do not know their status.

Emergency departments serve the communities HIV efforts most need to reach. Despite this, only about 1 in 100 ED visits includes an HIV test. The HIVer Project partners with EDs, health systems, and health departments to build the data to show where routine testing should go next, state by state, with the goal of helping end the HIV epidemic in the U.S.

EDs are everywhere. The HIV burden is not.

People living with HIV per 100,000 residents, by county, 2024, with every emergency department in the lower 48 states.

Map of the lower 48 states. Counties are shaded by how many people live with HIV per 100,000 residents, darkest across the South, in Florida and in large cities. About 5,600 small dots mark emergency departments, spread across the whole country, including where HIV is most common.
People living with HIV per 100,000:Under 125125–218219–331332–459460+Not availableEmergency department
Data: AIDSVu (Emory University), 2024 county data. ED locations: Bennett et al., PLOS One 2023.

Our state projects

The HIVer Project’s goal is national: to understand where the burden of HIV is highest. Knowing this can help guide testing, treatment and prevention so they reach the people living with HIV and those at risk.

We start in emergency departments, where many people living with or at risk of HIV get their care. Our state projects build this picture one state at a time.

Enrolling nowCaliforniaBuilding the first statewide picture of HIV testing in EDs.

This work is supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) K08AI181642. Work and opinions here are those of the study team. They should not be construed to represent views of either the NIH or NIAID.