Minority Women's Health

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HIV/AIDS

Minority Women's Health > African Americans > Health Topics > HIV/AIDS

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is the virus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). HIV weakens your immune system, which makes it hard for your body to fight off other health problems that it could normally resist. As time goes on, your body becomes less able to fight off diseases.

Today, women account for one out of every four new HIV cases in the U.S. Of these newly infected women, about two out of three are African American. Most of these women got HIV from having sex with a man.

AIDS is now the leading cause of death for African American women ages 25-34. African American women are over 21 times as likely to die from HIV/AIDS as non-Hispanic white women.

Take these steps to protect yourself:

• Use latex condoms every time you have any kind of sex (vaginal, oral, or anal).
• If you use drugs and cannot or will not stop injecting drugs, use new, sterile syringes to prepare and inject drugs.
• If you're getting a tattoo or having your body pierced, ask what procedures they use to prevent the spread of HIV. If they do not use new, sterilized, or disinfected equipment, go somewhere else.

Publications

1.   Women and HIV/AIDS — This comprehensive section of womenshealth.gov provides women and their loved ones with resources and information they can use to get help with HIV/AIDS. It provides information on prevention, testing, living with the disease, opportunistic infections, medical care, HIV/AIDS and pregnancy, and more.

   http://www.womenshealth.gov/HIV/

2.     African Americans: Answers About HIV Vaccine Research — The African-American community is experiencing critically high levels of HIV/AIDS infection. This fact sheet answers common questions African-Americans may have about HIV/AIDS research and how it affects their communities.

   http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/topics/HIVAIDS/PDF/NIAID_HVAD_AA_FS.pdf

3.   HIV Infection in Women — This fact sheet addresses the special concerns that women with HIV/AIDS face.

   http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/topics/HIVAIDS/Understanding/Population+Specific+Information/womenHiv.htm...

4.   HIV/AIDS Among African Americans — This publication provides statistical information about African-Americans infected with HIV/AIDS in the United States. Also discussed are the interrelated challenges to HIV prevention in African-American communities.

   http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/aa/resources/factsheets/aa.htm

5.   African Americans and HIV/AIDS (Copyright © Kaiser Family Foundation) — African-Americans have been greatly affected by HIV/AIDS since the start of the epidemic. This report provides statistical information on the characteristics of infected individuals and discusses some of the reasons why there is such a high concentration of HIV/AIDS in African-Americans.

   http://www.kff.org/hivaids/upload/6089-03.pdf

6.   Getting Real: Black Women Taking Charge in the Fight Against AIDS (Copyright © Black AIDS Institute) — This easy-to-read booklet provides statistics on HIV/AIDS in the African-American community and information regarding the current state of AIDS among black women.

   http://www.blackaids.org/image_uploads/article_170/05%20women.pdf

Organizations

1.   AIDS.gov
2.   Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HHS (CDC INFO)
3.   National Prevention Information Network, CDC, HHS
4. Advocates for Youth
5. Black AIDS Institute
6. National Minority AIDS Council
7. Women Organized to Respond to Life-threatening Disease (WORLD)

= Indicates Federal Resources

Resources reviewed March 2008.