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Women and HIV Risk

August 16, 2006

On a global scale, AIDS has become an epidemic that disproportionately affects women. In sub-Saharan Africa, women living with HIV outnumber men. In many African regions, teenage girls have five times more likelihood of contracting HIV than their male counterparts. Other sexually transmitted diseases contribute to the spread of HIV.

Both biological and socioeconomic factors lead to this lopsided impact on women.

The following biological characteristics contribute to women’s risk of HIV:
• Women are more likely than men to contract HIV at a single exposure
• The cervix is a site of particular vulnerability
• Younger women are at even greater risk, since the cervix is physiologically less mature and therefore more vulnerable to infection
• Women with asymptomatic STDs may not seek treatment, which can result in serious long-term consequences such as infertility, pelvic inflammatory diseases, ectopic pregnancy, infant mortality, and cervical cancer

The following social and economic inequities contribute to women’s risk of HIV:

• For many women, the most common “risk factor” for getting HIV is simply being married
• Women may influence but do not control the sexual and/or drug use behavior of their male partners.
• Violence, coercion, and economic dependency in many relationships make it difficult for women to negotiate condom use or leave a partner that puts them at risk
• In many societies, women and girls are discouraged from learning about their bodies and sex in general
• Often, women are socialized to leave sexual decision-making to men.
• Gender-based social norms encourage men to seek multiple partners, while women bear the burden of shame and stigma associated with disease
• Growing economic inequality and eroding social support have driven women into commercial sex work to support their families

The preceding information was found at www.global-campaign.org.womenHIV.htm. The prevention resources that combat the social issues faced by women are scarce. Primary strategies such as abstinence, mutual monogamy, and male condom use remain ineffective and primal. Infections among women and young girls are rising and exceeding men. There is a significant need for education and economic/social empowerment to change the status quo. I’m having a Spike Lee, School Daze moment. I just want to scream to this nation and to the world – WAKEUUUUUPPPPPP!

Posted at 12:42 AM by Shantrie in the HIV & AIDS category/ies.