Thursday, March 9, 2006

AIDS Action releases the following statement in anticipation of the first annual National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day on Friday, March 10, 2006:

The first annual observance of National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is long overdue. Women have been affected by the HIV epidemic in the United States since its beginnings in the early 1980s. Over time, the epidemic’s demographics have shifted to include ever-growing numbers of women. According to the latest official estimates, women account for nearly 27% of all AIDS cases—a twenty-point increase from 1985.

This trend of rising infections affects women of color more acutely, particularly African American women. It is estimated that African American women account for 67% of AIDS diagnoses while representing only 13% of the U.S. female population. Still more jarring, the CDC reported in 2002 that HIV is among the top four causes of death for African American women aged 25–54 years. It was the number one cause of death for African American women aged 25–34 years.

Raising awareness of the rising number of women living with, and dying from, HIV infection is essential. Women’s unique needs in HIV prevention, treatment, and care are often overlooked in discussions of the epidemic. Yet the true test is not simply what we reflect on today, but what we—as AIDS service providers, advocates, individuals with HIV, and people committed to the health of our communities—do to demand that our federal government act swiftly and decisively to reverse the tide of this nationwide health crisis.

In this spirit, we encourage everyone to contact their elected officials to urge them to support the following:

• Government-funded campaigns that are multilingual, culturally sensitive, and age-appropriate, and that inform women of what places them at risk for infection, and promote women getting tested and using evidence-based prevention methods;
• Making HIV screening a routine part of primary care and increasing access to HIV testing beyond clinical settings;
• Reauthorization of a strengthened Ryan White CARE Act, which provides much-needed services and support to people living with HIV who lack adequate health insurance and resources—many of whom are women.
• Greater availability of information that explains why women, especially young women, are biologically more susceptible to HIV infection, and the gender-specific ways the virus manifests in women;
• Funding for microbicide research to provide women with a tool to protect against HIV infection even when unable to negotiate sex.

AIDS Action

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Washington, DC 20036

Phone: (202) 530-8030
Fax: (202) 530-8031
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