National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

• Published in: Chicago Citizen Vol. 50; no. 51
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chicago, Ill Chicago Weekend 09.03.2016
• Subjects: Acquired immune deficiency syndrome; AIDS; HIV; Human immunodeficiency virus; Special events; Women

HIV remains a significant health issue for women and girls, who comprised 23% (280,200) of the 1.2 million people living with HIV in the United States in 2011. In 2013, one out of five (9,278) of the estimated 47,165 new diagnoses of HIV infection were among women and girls over age 13. The majority of these diagnoses (87%) were attributed to heterosexual contact. While these numbers are still too high, the latest available data about HIV among women and girls show some encouraging trends. The rate of HIV diagnoses among adult and adolescent women decreased from 8.3 per 100,000 in 2009 to 6.9 per 100,000 in 2013, due in part to a 21% reduction in the number of HIV infections among African American women from 2008 through 2010. Although most (88%) of women living with HIV in 2011 were aware of their infection, less than half of them (45%) were engaged in medical care. Even fewer were prescribed antiretroviral medicines to treat HIV (41%), and less than a third (32%) had achieved viral suppression. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) reduces the amount of virus (viral load) in blood and body fluids and can keep people with HIV healthy for many years, and greatly reduce the chance of transmitting HIV to sex partners if taken consistently and correctly. Testing, diagnosis, and achieving viral suppression through treatment are all essential to reducing new infections and improving the health of people with HIV. Talk to your doctor about HIV medicines to prevent HIV infection (known as PrEP) if you routinely have sex with someone who has or may have HIV.