HIV Protection Tips

BODY + SPIRIT

CHAD BUCHANON/GETTY IMAGES

Ugly Views

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.”