Women & HIV/AIDS

AIDS Worldwide

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• Snapshot by Regions
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Prevention efforts and treatment are helping to stabilize the global HIV/AIDS epidemic. But progress is uneven. Infection rates are still unacceptably high, and women in many parts of the world are increasingly becoming infected with HIV/AIDS. Women account for almost half (47 percent) of people living with the disease as of the end of 2007. And only about one-third of pregnant women with HIV received medicines to prevent passing HIV to their babies.

In many countries, women and girls are at greater risk of HIV/AIDS due to gender inequality, discrimination, and stigma. Women and girls often are unable to talk with their sexual partners about abstinence, faithfulness, and condom use. Many face sexual or physical violence, or the threat of violence.They are often blamed for causing AIDS and other STIs and shunned once they do have the disease. Many women and girls also lack access to prevention and health care services. This disease has many effects on women, including: Added responsibilities of caring for sick family members Loss of property if they become widowed and/or infected Violent abuse when people find out about their HIV status

Sub-Saharan Africa Asia Caribbean Eastern Europe/Central Asia Latin America North America, Western/Central Europe Middle East and North Africa Oceania

The global HIV/AIDS epidemic has received greater attention by the international community over the past several years. This has led to numerous initiatives by governments and organizations to promote prevention and treatment efforts worldwide.

Snapshot by Regions

Sub-Saharan Africa — Sub-Saharan Africa is the hardest-hit region in the world. In 2007, there were 22.5 million people in sub-Saharan Africa living with HIV. Globally, 68 percent of all people living with HIV live in sub-Saharan Africa. Around 61 percent of all adults living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa are women. Most women with HIV here have been infected by their husbands or sexual partners. Nearly 12 million children under the age of 18 living in sub-Saharan Africa have lost one or both parents to AIDS. Many grandparents, who have lost all of their adult children to the disease, are left raising their grandchildren, many of whom also are HIV-positive. Fortunately, in most sub-Saharan African countries, HIV rates are stable or showing signs of decline. Prevention efforts appear to be having an impact in some countries. Coinfection with tuberculosis (TB), which is a major cause of illness and death in people with HIV, also is a big problem in this region. Here, roughly 50 percent to 80 percent of people with tuberculosis (TB) also are HIV-positive. Addressing both infections is an urgent need.

Asia — About 4.9 million people were living with HIV in Asia in 2007. Trends vary by region and country. Southeast Asia is the most effected, with the epidemic growing at especially high rates in Indonesia. New HIV infections had climbed by almost 20 percent since 2001 in East Asia. In China, roughly 700,000 people are living with HIV. About 2.5 million people in India are living with HIV. In many parts of Asia, HIV is found mainly in high-risk groups, such as sex workers and injection drug users. But in India, HIV has spread to the wider population, including women thought to be at low risk of infection.

Caribbean — The Caribbean is the second most affected region in the world. There were 230,000 people living with HIV in the Caribbean at the end of 2007. Nearly three-quarters of people with HIV in the Caribbean live in Haiti or Dominican Republic. Unprotected sex between sex workers and clients is a main cause of HIV spread in the region.  Especially at risk are young girls, who commonly have relationships with older men, who because of their age are more likely to have HIV.

Eastern Europe/Central Asia — The number of people with HIV in this region rose in 2007 to about 1.6 million, 40 percent of whom were women. Nearly 90 percent of new HIV cases were in the Russian Federation and Ukraine. Injection drug use has fueled the spread of HIV in this region, followed by unprotected sex between men and women.

Latin America — In 2007, about 1.6 million people were living with HIV in this region, where HIV rates are stable. Unprotected sex between men is a main cause of HIV spread in many Latin American countries. HIV transmission between female sex workers and their clients is another major factor in the spread of HIV in this region. Widespread stigma, discrimination, and cultural issues keep prevention and treatment efforts from reaching at-risk populations in this region.

North America, Western/Central Europe — About 2.1 million people in North America and Western and Central Europe were living with HIV in 2007. Access to life-prolonging treatment has helped the numbers of AIDS-related deaths in this region to stay low compared to other parts of the world. Still, the United States has one of the largest HIV epidemics in the world, and certain populations are more affected. AIDS is the leading cause of death among African American women aged 25 to 34 living in the United States. Canada's epidemic is much smaller, with an estimated 58,000 people living with HIV in 2005. In Western and Central Europe the number of new HIV diagnoses has climbed since 2002.

Middle East and North Africa — In 2007, there were an estimated 380,000 people living with HIV in the Middle East and North Africa. Limited data here makes it hard to see patterns and trends related to the HIV epidemic. We do know that unprotected paid sex is the main way HIV is passed in some counties, while injection drug use is the way HIV is passed in other counties. Most HIV cases are found in men. But in some countries, more and more women are getting HIV as it is passed to them from men who pay for sex or use injection drugs.

Oceania — In Oceania there were about 75,000 people living with HIV in 2007. Papua New Guinea's cases account for more than 70 percent of HIV infections in the region, and the epidemic is growing at an alarming rate. Women are heavily discriminated against in Papua New Guinea and high levels of sexual violence against women have been reported. Both paid and casual sex encounters are the norm, and there is generally no condom use. Unsafe sex between men is the main way HIV is spread in New Zealand and Australia.

SOURCE: UNAIDS

Additional Resources:

Publications

1.   USAID Global Health: HIV/AIDS — Frequently Asked Questions — This publication provides data on the global HIV/AIDS pandemic, including global infection statistics, global infection statistics for women and children, number of deaths, how fast the pandemic is growing, statistics on AIDS orphans, and more.

   http://www.usaid.gov/pop_health/aids/News/aidsfaq.html

2.   AIDS in Africa: Three Scenarios to 2025 (Copyright © UNAIDS) — This report presents three possible case studies for how the AIDS epidemic in Africa could evolve over the next 20 years based on policy decisions taken today by African leaders and the rest of the world.

   http://www.unaids.org/unaids_resources/images/AIDSScenarios/AIDS-scenarios-2025_report_en.pdf...

3. Worldwide AIDS & HIV Statistics (Copyright © AVERT) — This web site provides the latest statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO) on the prevalence and incidence of new HIV/AIDS cases in the world.

   http://www.avert.org/worldstats.htm

Organizations

1.   US Agency for International Development (USAID)
2.   USAID Development Experience Clearinghouse
3. The HIV Vaccine Trials Network
4. UNAIDS
5. World Health Organization

= Indicates Federal Resources

Content last updated March 4, 2009.