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The HIV/AIDS Program: Populations served by the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program
 

WOMEN AND HIV


Fact Sheets

To order free copies of the 2008 Ryan White Grantee folder and fact sheets, call 1.888.ASK.HRSA or order online.

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  Surveillance      
  Critical Issues      
  HRSA's Response      
           
SURVEILLANCE
  • Of the 37,852 estimated new AIDS cases in 2006, 25.9 percent were among women, down from 26.3 percent in 2002. The estimated number of AIDS diagnoses among women decreased 1.6 percent from 2002 through 2006, compared with a 3.9 percent decrease among men.1
  • An estimated 22.2 percent of people living with AIDS in the United States and dependent areas in 2006 were women.2
  • The primary transmission category for women living with AIDS in 2006 was high-risk heterosexual contact, which accounted for 65.8 percent of cases.2 The proportion of cases attributable to high-risk heterosexual contact increased by 41.3 percent from 2002 to 2006.2
  • African-Americans represented the majority of women living with AIDS at the end of 2006, at 61.9 percent.3 White and Hispanic women accounted for 19.3 and 16.6 percent, respectively.3
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CRITICAL ISSUES
Women with HIV/AIDS may have a harder time accessing treatment and health care than men. Over 17 million women in the United States are uninsured. Women who are younger and low-income are particularly at risk for being uninsured, as are women of color, especially Hispanic women. As a result, these women lack sufficient access to care, get a lower standard of care when they do enter the health system, and have poorer health outcomes.4

Minority women are particularly vulnerable to HIV infection. Data from the 2000 census indicate that African-American and Hispanic women comprise 25.3 percent of all women in the United States, yet they accounted for over 80 percent of the estimated total AIDS diagnoses among women in the same year.5,6

Male-to-female transmission of HIV is between two and four times more efficient than female-to-male transmission.7 Women are especially vulnerable to HIV disease in relationships in which HIV status is not discussed and prevention methods are not incorporated. Beliefs about gender roles, knowledge of sex and sexuality, level of education, and employment all play important roles in determining risk factors and risky behavior.8

Most women who are HIV positive live in poverty and were already poor when they learned their serostatus.9,10 The socioeconomic status of women negatively influences access to health care. When women face unmet subsistence needs (e.g., for housing, food, and child care), they have little time or resources to devote to their own health. The impact on their lives and the lives of their children—and on older adults who may be in their care—can be catastrophic.

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HRSA'S RESPONSE
In 2006, 33 percent of Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program clients were female, a total of 295,312 women. Thirty-one grants totaling $21.8 million were awarded to providers in 2007 through the Part D Program for Women, Infants, Children, Youth, and Families. These grants support providers in their efforts to deliver family-centered comprehensive care to children, youth, women, and their families and help improve access to clinical trials and research.

The Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program Special Projects of National Significance (SPNS) Program has funded an initiative dedicated to innovative HIV outreach and intervention models. One of the demonstration sites in this SPNS initiative, the University of Miami School of Medicine’s Caring Connections Program, is specifically investigating innovative HIV outreach and interven­tion models for reaching seropositive women and children who are not in care or are underserved in the Miami Family Care Program of the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center. For more information, see http://hab.hrsa.gov/special/outreach_index.htm.

A Guide to the Clinical Care of Women with HIV/AIDS, published by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) in 2005, is the primary textbook on the treatment of HIV-positive women. The guide is a compilation by 13 authors and edited by Dr. Jean R. Anderson of Johns Hopkins University. It was the first manual written specifically on the medical treatment of women with HIV.

For more information on women and HIV/AIDS, see the July 2004 and December 2004 issues of HRSA CAREAction, on the Web at http://hab.hrsa.gov/publications/news.htm.
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END NOTES:
1 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report. 2006;18:13. Table 3.
2 CDC. HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report. 2006;18:22. Table 10.
3 CDC. HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report. 2006;18:23. Table 11.
4 Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Fact sheet: Women’s health insurance coverage. December 2007. Available at: www.kff.org/womenshealth/6000.cfm. Accessed June 16, 2008.
5 U.S.Census Bureau. United States Census 2000. Available at: www.census.gov/main/www/cen2000.html. Accessed June 16, 2008. Exit Disclaimer
6 CDC. HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report. 2006;18:15. Table 5a.
7 Turmen T. Gender and HIV/AIDS. Int J Gynecol Obstet. 2003; 82:411-8.
8 Abel E, Chamber KB. Factors that influence vulnerability to STDs and HIV/AIDS among Hispanic women. Health Care Women Int. 2004;15:761-80.
  Siegel K, et al. Barriers and motivating factors impacting delays in seeking medical care among HIV-infected women. Paper presented at the National Conference on Women and HIV. Pasadena, CA; May 1997. Abstract 108.1.
  Solomon L, et al. Health services use by urban women with or at risk for HIV-1 infection; the HIV Epidemiology Research Study (HERS). J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 1998;17:253-61.
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