HIV Among Black Women 5 Times Higher Than Previously Thought: Study

As the health community geared up to recognize National Women and Girls HIV Awareness Day today, startling new research revealed that the disease is five times more prevalent among African-American women than previously thought.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 1 in 32 African-American women will be diagnosed with HIV in their lifetime. But a national team of AIDS experts at Johns Hopkins and elsewhere say they are surprised and dismayed by the results of a new study they conducted, showing that the yearly number of new cases of HIV infection among black women is five times previous estimates from the CDC.

The team, called the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN), announced results from its HPTN 064 Women's HIV Seroincidence Study (ISIS) this week, which found that among 2,099 women ages 18 to 44, 88 percent of whom were black, 1.5 percent (32 women) tested positive at the outset of the study, even though they all thought they were negative. Among those who initially tested negative for HIV, the rate of new infections was 0.24 percent within a year after joining the study.

Researchers say that women constitute roughly one-quarter of new HIV infections in the US with 66 percent of these infections occurring among black women, although black women constitute only 14 percent of the US female population. What's more alarming is that the rate revealed in the ISIS study is comparable to estimated HIV incidence rates in several countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including the Congo (0.28%) and Kenya (0.53%).

"While African American women do not engage in more risky behaviors than other women, a complex range of social and environmental factors place them at greater risk for HIV," the CDC said in a statement announcing the launch of a new campaign called "Take Charge. Take the Test." aimed at curbing the HIV crisis among black women.

According to a report by News One:

Some of the factors increasing the HIV/AIDS risk for Black women include lack of access to health care and the inability to sometimes negotiate safer sex because of financial dependence on a sexual partner. In addition, because Black men have higher rates of incarceration, which can lead to concurrent relationships and the higher prevalence of AIDS in the Black community, the chances of infection are higher with each sexual encounter.

Data from the ISIS study comes from analysis of at-risk women in these six urban areas in the northeastern and southeastern United States, which researchers say are hardest hit by the global AIDS epidemic.

Comments

[brownsie318s]

09:30 PM on 04/02/2013

People everywhere, including Africa, are living longer with HIV. The trick is not to be come a statistic.
http://t.co/tTdagbQe

[great googly]

01:08 AM on 06/17/2012

Terribly terribly sad. What is the Obama administration doing for black womens health issues?

[sweetpatriot]

09:21 PM on 06/16/2012

Thank God, I have a privilege to live HIV Negative.Take care Ladies and Gentlemen.

[Bradford T Hall]

07:54 AM on 06/16/2012

The shock value of this flawed survey aside, I'm shocked that with all that's going on in the USA and the world people still engage in sex. Praise Fari I'm a Nanosexual.

[Miller-lifestudy]

09:55 AM on 05/17/2012

How can a study be done on HIV Among Black Women if the research is not distributed evenly across different races. The study should have not only done 88% of black women, but 88% of every race of women to get the correct results. On top of that, why just go to poverty communities go to different types of communities, women or women regardless of where they live.

[MapsofWorld]

08:08 AM on 04/15/2012

Will Legalization and Regulation of Prostitution Help In Containing The Spread Of HIV? What Do You Think? http://bit.ly/shprlg

[MapsofWorld]

08:06 AM on 04/15/2012

edfe

[AriD2385]

01:28 AM on 03/18/2012

While awareness is good, the creators of the study specifically targeted high risk communities and only included women with risk factors for HIV. That means that if a woman didn't live in a high risk community and don't have a risk factor, they weren't interested in having her participate in the study.
It's all here in the link. Visit pages 1 and 24.

http://www.hptn.org/web%20documents/HPTN064/HPTN064CMs_Protocol.pdf

They put these results out there as if they applied to all black women. In reality they targeted a specific demographic within the black community that they knew had high risk factors for HIV. If this were publicized more clearly, it might be acceptable. As it stands, the implication is that these results are applicable to all black women, and that is patently false.

Journalists also need to start taking more responsibility for interpreting these statistics and studies more accurately, and perhaps with greater scrutiny.

[sgtbattle]

10:30 AM on 03/14/2012

What are the rates for the other types of women and men in general? I can't believe any article that presents HALF TRUTHS. So....no other race has HIV except for the blacks? That's odd....

[Th Mnh Nguyn]

11:49 PM on 03/13/2012

It saddens me each time I read a public board filled with such lack of accurate information on the topic at hand. This article was written to increase awareness in the community...and being that this past Saturday with HIV Awareness Day for Women & Girls....it was only appropriate.

Instead of taking it for what it is (regardless if you believe in the research method or not)...and saying yes, it maybe an issue, how can I empower myself and others around me to prevent this from happening so we DON'T become apart of the statistics...I see blame, judgement, myths and rumors being readily distributed. Stop looking at these inaccurate and unreliable websites and even more so stop using them as valid sources. Eliminate anything with a ".com" would be a good first criteria to stand by. ".org" ".edu" would be better since the general consensus with ".gov" is negative.

If you truly want to learn, find a HIV community based organization in your city and have a real conversation with them. And just because you don't know of anyone around you who are impacted by HIV, doesn't mean that they aren't around you.

[Nutrition Supervisor]

07:54 PM on 03/13/2012

hmm....also the sistas need to stop relying on the government for assistance........It don't take a rocket scientist to figure out that those free clinics are the ones infecting many of you.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIV_trial_in_Libya

keep believing that this is not occuring in the US

[eleni aus]

02:25 AM on 06/16/2012

Keep believing what?

That foreign workers in Libya confessed under toroture to something they did not do (ie they did not delinerately infect the children - rather poor hygiene practices etc would have facilitated the spread of the infection already in the population - including among the children) ..

That you would stand a better chance of survival in a US hospital with one hopes strict infection protocols operating than in a war torn country or one where a dictator is in power and reliant on foreign workers using poor protocols (syringe re-use etc) to keep the hospitals operating ...

Keep attending a free clinic and get the meds you need......

It's comments like the one above that lead to needless misery and death.

[Bradford T Hall]

07:57 AM on 06/16/2012

My belief in the "strict infection protocols" myth did not survive my experience with hospitals when my wife was being treated for Leukemia.

[Hassan Hartley]

07:33 PM on 03/13/2012

http://brotherhassans.blogspot.com/2012/03/rip-black-heterosexual-america-1555-201.html

[Divine thought]

04:25 PM on 03/13/2012

DUH!! These numbers have been high for years. The fact is, it's really not that important in this country. Black people are sooooo ashamed and stigmatized by the disease that it is difficult to wrap your brain around it.
I believe a much bigger factor in the high incidence of HIV in black women is low self esteem. Putting ourselves in situations that are not healthy. WE DON'T THINK WE ARE WORTHY! Therefore, we allow people and situations to manifest in our lives that should not be there.

[Bradford T Hall]

08:02 AM on 06/16/2012

NO one will confer self worth upon you or anyone. As you know, it comes from years of following Spike Lee's commandment- DO THE RIGHT THING.

[tonystarks9406]

04:01 PM on 03/13/2012

Nobody know the exact HIV among black women and plus they're trying to make this a black woman disease and people from different race are going to say "black women are disease infected".

[Ethan Cole]

01:58 PM on 03/13/2012

Gay people always say the black community is homophobic, and that's why so many blacks are on the down low. They preach protect yourself, and you should. But gay people also need to acknowledge that a lot of gay men have sex in "rest stops" which is dangerous, but the gay community hardly ever acknowledges that.

[Rocc Harrd]

04:35 PM on 03/13/2012

What is your point? What does your statement have to with this article.

http://www.blackpressusa.com/news/Article.asp?SID=3&Title=National+News&NewsID=19908

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114237523

http://www.thebody.com/content/art54082.html

http://ajph.aphapublications.org/loi/ajph

[Ethan Cole]

07:08 PM on 03/13/2012

I read the articles you posted. The 1st one, the brother looks like he is on the down low. What is your point?? Are you saying that it is ok to be on the down low??