HIV-positive women in the United States face strikingly high levels
of stigma, according to survey results released by the American
Foundation for AIDS Research. The results of amfAR’s survey
reveal pervasive negative views of HIV-positive women and a high
level of discomfort in interacting with them. Many of the responses
display a lack of knowledge of how HIV is transmitted and misplaced
fear of contracting the virus, signaling a pressing need to intensify
prevention education efforts.
Sixty-eight percent of respondents indicated that they would be
somewhat or not at all comfortable with an HIV-positive woman as
their dentist, 59% said they would be somewhat or not at all
comfortable with an HIV-positive woman serving as their child care
provider, and 57% said they would be somewhat or not at all
comfortable having a woman physician who is HIV-positive. One in
five respondents would be somewhat or not at all comfortable having
a close friend who is HIV-positive. Only 14% of respondents felt that
HIV-positive women should have children, even though medication
exists to prevent mother-to-child transmission of the virus.
The survey also demonstrates significant differences in how black,
white, and Hispanic individuals perceive HIV and the risk of
acquiring it. Of those who know someone with HIV, blacks (34%)
and Hispanics (32%) are more likely to have a family member
with HIV than whites (13%).
In doing the study, amfAR also gained insights into public attitudes
about HIV testing. Nearly 40% of respondents were sure that they
had not been tested for HIV. A majority (80%) indicated that they
did not need a test either because they “knew” they did not have
HIV or because they didn’t think they needed to be tested.
However, respondents overwhelmingly supported expanded HIV
testing, and 65% support making HIV testing part of standard
routine health care. This acceptance may be partially linked to
the belief that HIV testing occurs more frequently than it does,
with 67% mistakenly assuming that they are automatically
screened for HIV when they are tested for other sexually
transmitted infections. Fifty percent believed that women are
automatically tested during prenatal exams. The survey draws
much needed attention to the plight of women living with HIV.
Forty-six percent of people who have HIV worldwide -- about 15.4
million—are women and girls. In the United States women
account for 27% of new AIDS diagnoses -- up from only 8%
in 1985. Both domestically and internationally, women continue
to face widespread social and gender inequalities that can make
it difficult for them to reduce their risk of infection. In addition,
women are biologically more susceptible to HIV infection than
men. ”In the minds of many people, AIDS in the United States
is no longer a crisis,” says Susan J. Blumenthal, MD, MPA,
amfAR’s senior policy and medical adviser and former deputy
assistant secretary for women’s health in the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services. “Complacency has obscured the
changing face of the epidemic and the dramatic rise in HIV
infections in women over the past 25 years. These results should
serve as a wake-up call for action across all sectors of society.
We need to intensify efforts for science-based education and
policy to shatter the stigma that has surrounded this disease
for all too long.”
The online survey, conducted by Harris Interactive for amfAR,
questioned nearly 5,000 respondents ages 18 to 44 and covered
HIV risk and responsibility, impact of gender-based violence,
and women’s access to health care and health information as
well as attitudes toward HIV-positive women. The survey was
made possible by grants from Broadway Cares/Equity Fights
AIDS and the MAC AIDS Fund.
"Many women erroneously believe that they are not at risk for
HIV," says Regan Hofmann, an HIVer from New York City.
"This is why we are seeing the rate of new infections for women
rise significantly in America. While many women accept that
they could potentially become pregnant from even just one act
of unprotected sex, they feel that they would have to do
something ‘extraordinary’ to contract HIV -- like be excessively
promiscuous or be involved with people, the likes of whom they
don’t think they would encounter in their everyday world."
Says Marvelyn Brown, an international activist who lives in Atlanta,
“I take seven pills daily that make me sick to my stomach.
I experience nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, and the worst of all,
mood swings. But yet it is still not the worst part of having HIV.
It is the stigma.”
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