A briefing on Capitol Hill organized by people with HIV/AIDS, advocacy groups, and women of color presented alarming data about the number of women affected by HIV/AIDS in the United States – and the fact that heterosexual sex is a predominant risk factor for contracting the disease. According to data from Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR):
- African Americans and Hispanics make up less than 25 percent of all women in the United States but account for 82 percent of AIDS cases.
- Black women are 23 times more likely to have AIDS than are white women.
- In 1985, more than half of women with AIDS reported injection drug use as a risk factor for the disease. Today, more than 71 percent report heterosexual sex as the main risk factor.
- Between the years 2001 to 2004, 76 percent of females diagnosed with HIV/AIDS contracted the disease through heterosexual sex.
In addition, in the United States, more than one in three new HIV infections and one in four new AIDS cases are women. Globally, women make up half of all people living with HIV – about 18 million women – according to amfAR. Also, girls now comprise 43 percent of people age 13 to 19 diagnosed with AIDS in the United States. The proportion of AIDS diagnoses among women has more than tripled since 1985.
Not only is there disparity among races, there is also geographical disparity. New cases of HIV/AIDS in the United States are predominantly diagnosed in the Southeast area of the country where poverty rates are the highest. According to amfAR, only 29 percent of U.S. women live in the region, but more than 75 percent of newly diagnosed women with HIV come from that area. Lack of education, lack of sex education, lack of medical insurance, and other economic issues are among the reasons that transmission of infection remains so high.
Health, academic, and political experts fear that too many women assume wrongly that they are not at risk for HIV or AIDS and therefore do not take the necessary precautions. These experts call for:
- Campaigns to raise awareness about the fact that women, and especially women of color, are at high risk for contracting HIV/AIDS through heterosexual sex
- Widespread education about, and attention to, racially discriminating attitudes that lead to inaction around these issues both nationally and globally
- Greater availability, for all people, to testing and treatments
- Culturally sensitive support services and programs in multiple languages
|
