Women and HIV/AIDS

National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day 2010

March 10 is National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. It is a day to recognize the special risks HIV/AIDS poses for women and girls, and to raise awareness of the disease's increasing impact on them. We encourage women and girls to know their HIV status and get tested for HIV.

In 2007, more than a quarter of diagnoses of HIV infection in the United States were among women and girls aged 13 years and older. The numbers are unsettling: More than 278,000 women and adolescent girls in this country are living with HIV; and almost 94,000 American women and girls with AIDS have died since the epidemic began. Women and girls of color—especially black women and girls—bear a disproportionately heavy burden of HIV/AIDS. In 2007, for female adults and adolescents, the rate of HIV/AIDS diagnoses for black females was nearly 20 times as high as the rate for white females and nearly 4 times as high as the rate for Hispanic/Latino females. Relatively few cases were diagnosed among Asian, American Indian/Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander females, although the rates for these groups were higher than the rate for white females.

CDC estimates that 1 in five people living with HIV infection in the United States do not know they are infected. Getting tested for HIV is the first step to protecting yourself and others. Knowing your own HIV status and that of your male sexual partners is critical because 80% of new HIV infections in American women and girls result from sex with an infected male partner. Early diagnosis of HIV allows for counseling and prompt treatment. HIV treatment prolongs life and reduces the risk of further HIV transmission. If you are a pregnant woman, it is especially important that you get tested early to help ensure, that if you are HIV-positive, you do not transmit the virus to your unborn child.

Make National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day a day to get the facts about HIV—to learn how HIV is spread, if you are at risk, and how to protect yourself and your loved ones. And, if you are a parent, talk with your kids about HIV. Every 35 minutes a woman tests positive for HIV in the United States. It's time to get tested.

To find an HIV testing location near you, go to www.hivtest.org or text your ZIP Code to KNOW IT (566948). For more information on this day, theme, and events please visit the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women's Health, which is leading activities for this observance.

What Can You Do?

• Get tested for HIV. To find a testing site center near you, text your ZIP Code to KNOW IT (566948).
• Talk with your health care provider about your risks for HIV.
• Get the facts about HIV/AIDS by visiting the Act Against AIDS web site including:

- The risk factors for acquiring HIV.

- How to avoid high-risk behaviors.

- How to practice safer methods to prevent HIV.

• Talk about HIV prevention with family, friends, and colleagues.
• Volunteer at a local organization that serves people living with HIV.
• Attend an event near you.
• Learn more about the impact of HIV/AIDS among women in the United States.
• Stand up against stigma, racism, and other forms of discrimination associated with HIV/AIDS.
• Donate time and money to HIV/AIDS organizations.

CDC