March 10, 2009 2:58 am

Why Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day Matters: Part 1

posted by whcny hiv/aids awareness, women

Here in the United States, women comprise about 27% of HIV infections, up from about 8% in 1984.    In many countries around the world, women already represent over 50% of HIV infections.  Rates of sexually transmitted infections among youth and teenage pregnancy have risen over the last several years – both indicators that we may soon see a corresponding rise in HIV infections among both young women and men.  And, although generally considered a chronic manageable condition in the U.S., HIV continues to be the leading cause of death among African American women aged 25 to 34 years old.

Yet most of the general public in the U.S. think of HIV as a men’s disease and some members of the HIV advocacy/policy community have gone so far as to say “HIV/AIDS in this country is a men’s disease”.

The U.S. Positive Women’s Network believes we urgently need a comprehensive, outcomes-oriented National AIDS Strategy that addresses homophobia, HIV stigma, and racial and gender disparities in access to awareness, prevention, testing, treatment, and care.

This Women & Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, Naina Khanna, Coordinator of the U.S. Positive Women’s Network, spoke to to several HIV-positive women leaders around the U.S. to hear their perspectives on why HIV matters, in their own words.  Read more here.

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