Black women and HIV/AIDS

In the early ‘80s, AIDS was mostly known as the “gay men’s disease” because it affected primarily White gay men. Now, the predominant face behind AIDS belongs to Black women.

by Nunu Kidane

Although the virus should be seen as an overall human disease, the fact is, it is primarily impacting Black women. HIV/AIDS is the third leading cause of death among women ages 25 to 44 and the leading cause of death among African American women in this age group.

In 1985, women made up only 7 percent of people living with HIV in the U.S. Today, women account for nearly 30 percent of all infections.

The racial disparity cannot be ignored. The AIDS rate for African American women is 50 in 100,000, compared to 14 percent for Latinas and 2.2 percent for White women.

This is shocking when you compare that African American women and Latinas comprise less than 31 percent of the U.S. female population, yet they represent more than 77 percent of AIDS cases in women!

Women are more than twice as likely as men to contract HIV through unprotected heterosexual sex. Here in the U.S. 39 percent of AIDS cases among young women are results of unprotected heterosexual sex, and another 39 percent are results of injection drug users.

In countries like India and in Sub-Saharan Africa, nearly 80 percent of the spread is due to heterosexual sex.

Scientists have proven that HIV is transmitted eight times more efficiently from men to women than from women to men.

Here in the Bay Area, the figures are a reflection of national and global trends. In Alameda County, Blacks comprise only 7 percent of the population. But 44 percent of all people infected with HIV in Alameda County are Black. Of that number, nearly 68 percent are women.

Why is this happening? One cannot see AIDS as a virus in a vacuum. To understand the disproportionate impact of the virus on women of color, we must examine the social and economic conditions that exist. It is a fact that women earn less than men, and when it is a woman of color, she is usually at the bottom of the earning scale.

Patriarchal social rules mean that women have the least say in sexual relations and are more likely to be physically or mentally abused by partners. It is also a fact that condoms are made for men and that women have to face the daily challenge of convincing their partners to use them - which can entail a whole host of assumptions and threats - or resort to no protection at all.

Female condoms exist but are cumbersome, uncomfortable and virtually unheard of here in the U.S.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) research shows that:

One in five HIV-infected women is uninsured.
Approximately 50 percent of women with HIV have at least one child under the age of 15 years old.
African American women are 13 percent of the U.S. female population, but they represented 63 percent of newly reported female AIDS cases in 1999.
Although AIDS deaths in this country are down overall, AIDS deaths in women are rising...

...Nunu Kidane is a coordinator with Priority Africa Network, a coalition of Bay Area organizations that promote and teach about Africa and fight racial injustice. For more information and resources on Black women and HIV/AIDS, call (510) 527 4099 or email Nunu at priorityafrica@yahoo. com.

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