Health News
HIV/AIDS Cases on the Rise in Women
March 9, 2006
In the early days of the AIDS pandemic, fewer women were infected with HIV. In 2004, 27 percent of new AIDS cases in the United States were in women -- and women of color, especially African American women, made up the majority of these new cases. As of 2005, 46 percent of adults living with HIV/AIDS throughout the world were women. The majority of women have become infected with HIV through heterosexual intercourse.
Along with African American and Hispanic women, who represented approximately 83 percent of new U.S. cases between 2001 and 2004, younger women are "particularly vulnerable." During this time period 38 percent of new cases in individuals under age 25 were in females, compared with 27 percent among those 25 years or older.
March 10th is National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day and will be a day of recognition of these disturbing trends.