March 10 is National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

March 10 is National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day; a day set aside to raise awareness about how women can protect themselves and their partners from HIV by getting tested, using condoms and checking with their health care provider about medicines that prevent and treat HIV. Although numbers of new infections among women are still high, community outreach is beginning to show some results.

"For the first time the CDC is reporting a decline in the number of new HIV cases among Black women, one of the populations hardest hit by HIV in the U.S. Comparing 2008 to 2010, new HIV infections among Black women decreased 21 percent," said Dr. Donna Hubbard McCree, PhD, MPH, RPh, the Associate Director for Health Equity for the CDC's Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention.

But the problem is far from over. Almost half of all new HIV infection among teens are among young women, and 90 percent of all HIV-positive women in New York City are Black or Hispanic.

National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is an opportunity for organizations and communities across the country to come together to help women and girls take action to protect themselves and their partners from HIV, through prevention, testing and treatment. The Office on Women's Health of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services sponsors the observance.

"After years of cuts to funding for HIV/AIDS and other public health programs, NWGHAAD is not only a day to raise awareness of the epidemic's toll on America's women and girls, but also a day for action," said National Minority AIDS Council Director of Community Advancement and Leadership Strategies Dr. Kim Johnson.

NMAC notes that the HIV/AIDS epidemic remains a paramount public health concern for women in the United States, especially for women of color who bear a heavier burden of the disease. Each day approximately 26 women are newly infected with HIV. Eighteen of these women are African American. While recent estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed a promising decline in new infections among women, the burden of infection continues to shift heavily toward women of color.

Infection rates among African-American women jumped from 15 times the rate of white women in 2009 to 20 times that of white women in 2010. And HIV continues to be one of the top 10 causes of death for African-American women aged 15 to 64 and Latinas aged 25 to 44.

"Our nation must step up its efforts to combat this epidemic and ensure the health of our mothers, sisters and daughters," said Johnson. "On this National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, NMAC urges all women to get tested and to get involved in the fight to end this epidemic. We have the tools to realize an AIDS-free generation, but must do more to address the persistent and disproportionate impact this epidemic has on women of color."

HIV Among Women and Girls

In 2010, women and adolescent girls (aged 13 years and older) made up about one in four of the 1.1 million people living with HIV in the United States. Most of these infections (75 percent) were from sex with men, and the rest were from injection drug use.

Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino women are more affected by HIV at all stages of the disease than white women. Despite an encouraging decrease in new HIV infections among black women (21 percent between 2008 and 2010), 1 in 32 black women will be infected with HIV in their lifetimes (if current trends continue). One in 106 Hispanic/Latino women and 1 in 526 white women will be infected with HIV.

Many women who have been diagnosed with HIV are not getting the care they need. Only half of women who were diagnosed with HIV in 2009 were staying in care in 2010, according to a study of 19 areas in the United States, and less than half (4 in 10) had viral suppression, meaning that the level of virus in a person's blood is low enough to help her or him stay healthy. Viral suppression also leads to a greatly reduced chance of spreading the virus to others.

What Puts Women and Girls at Risk?

Some women are unaware of a partner's risk factors, such as injection drug use or sex with other men, and may be afraid to ask them to use condoms for fear that they will abuse them or leave. Vaginal and anal sex without a condom carries a much higher risk of HIV for women than men, especially if they already have another sexually transmitted infections (STI).

If drug use or multiple partners are involved, or if a woman exchanges sex for drugs, the risk of HIV can be increased. Sometimes, women can spread HIV to other women via injection drug use or engaging in high-risk behaviors while under the influence. For women of color, the risk of HIV infection increases with each new sexual encounter.

What Can Women Do?

National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is the perfect opportunity to get tested for HIV. Find a site near you at hivetest.cdc.gov, or call 800-CDC-INFO.

You and your partner should both get tested for HIV and other STIs, and limit the number of people you have sex with. Use condoms every time, and choose less risky sexual behaviors like oral sex. If you are an injection drug user, don't share your works.

If you routinely have sex without a condom, talk to your doctor about HIV medicine that can prevent HIV, known as pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP. If you have had sex with someone who may be HIV-positive, see your doctor right away (within 3 days) so that you can start what is known as post-exposure prophylaxis, or PEP. Taking it for about a month reduces the chance of getting HIV.

Finally, if you are HIV-positive, start treatment as soon as possible with antiretroviral therapy (ART), and stay on treatment. ART can lower the level of virus in your body enough to improve your health and prevent you from spreading HIV to your partners.

Special Events for NWGHAAD

This afternoon, March 10 from 2-3 p.m., join in the Office of Women's Health's webinar titled "Ongoing Care and Treatment: Women with HIV/AIDS." The hour-long webinar will include presenters from the HHS Office on Women's Health and the Office of Population Affairs, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Black Women's Health Imperative, as well as National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day Ambassador Tamika Williams.

Register here with conference number 4485110 and passcode 9463294.

And on May 10, New York City's Iris House invites women to the Ninth Annual Summit of Women as the Face of AIDS, held at the New York Academy of Medicine at 1216 Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street. The event will include a May 10 Community Health and Wellness Fair component, to be held at the plaza at the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building, 163 W. 125th Street in New York.

For more info or to register, email [email protected]