( CNN ) -- Last year on December 1 -- World AIDS Day -- President Barack Obama said that creating an `` AIDS-free generation '' around the world was finally within our grasp . This World AIDS Day , let 's help him achieve that goal . And let 's start in the United States . While the AIDS research and activist communities continue to celebrate some major breakthroughs during the past few years , we continue to struggle with an epidemic in the United States that grows unabated . Each year , 50,000 Americans become newly infected with HIV -- the virus that causes AIDS -- and more than 1.1 million people are living with the virus . And while everyone is at risk and should know their status , data tell us that communities of color -- particularly black women and young , black gay , bisexual and other men who have sex with men -- are disproportionately affected by the virus . If we 're going to create an AIDS-free generation here at home , we need to start investing in resources that will curb the epidemic among these populations . Hillary Clinton unveils 'blueprint ' to combat AIDS . According to a Fenway Institute study released at this year 's International AIDS Conference , nearly 6 % of black men under the age of 30 who have sex with men are newly infected with HIV every year in six cities across the United States . That 's three times the rate among white men who have sex with men . Perhaps most alarming , a Black AIDS Institute study claims that 60 % of black men who have sex with men will have HIV by age 40 . Among black women , the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that nearly 1 in 32 black women will become infected with HIV in their lifetime . And despite representing 14 % of the female U.S. population , black women make up 66 % of all new HIV infections among women , according to the HIV Prevention Trials Network . When statistics are this shocking , we must take action . In his World AIDS Day address last year , Obama said , `` When new infections among young , black , gay men increase by nearly 50 % in three years , we need to do more to show them that their lives matter . When Latinos are dying sooner than other groups ; when black women feel forgotten even though they account for most of the new cases among women , we need to do more . '' So : What can we do to make people feel like they matter , and feel like we have n't forgotten them ? One thing we can all do right now is go get tested -- and encourage our friends and neighbors to get tested , too . Knowing your status is the first step to curbing the epidemic . Go to hivtest.cdc.gov to find out where to get tested in your neighborhood . If you test negative , learn how to stay that way . If you test positive , learn your treatment options and take control of your health . Second , we must fight the disease -- not the people who have it . We need an open dialogue among families , schools , and churches about the risks of HIV , and we need to recognize the role stigma plays in pushing the epidemic underground and unchecked . Stigma against people living with this disease , or who are particularly vulnerable to it , has no place in our evidence-based quest to stop the spread of AIDS . We must hate this disease ; we must never hate our fellow human beings . Third , we must educate everyone -- particularly black women and young black men -- about their vulnerability to the virus . Everyone has a right to feel empowered to take control of their sexual lives and the health of themselves and their families . Half of young people with HIV do n't know it . Finally , we need to realize that AIDS will remain with us as long as we keep our guard down . The dialogue we start this week needs to take place every day , not just World AIDS Day . Talk to your kids about the importance of safe sex and abstinence . Talk to your partners about the importance of monogamy . Thirty years into the AIDS epidemic , we can finally see , in the distance , an end . We finally possess the ability to change this region 's , and the world 's , future . Will you join us in helping us create a truly AIDS-free generation by first creating one here at home ? The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Janet Jackson and Mathilde Krim .
We continue to struggle with an unabated HIV epidemic in the United States . Communities of color are disproportionately affected by the virus . We must fight the disease -- not the people who have it , say amfAR representatives .