Click on map to enlarge to read statistics.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), women age 13 or older made up 21 percent of the 49,273 new HIV diagnoses across the country in 2011. Of these more than 10,000 cases, blacks and Latinas are affected at a much higher rate than white women.
The CDC said that the social factors among these demographics place them at a higher risk than others. According to the website OnCentral this could be due to the limited access to high-quality health care, poverty, stigma, fear and discrimination.
In addition to the prevalent HIV risk factors such as injecting drugs, or having unprotected sex, women face many other things that could lead to an infection with HIV. Women’s Health reports that violence against women is a contributing factor to HIV rates. In cases such as date rape or sexual assault cuts can form becoming easier for one to be diagnosed with HIV. Abusive relationships where there is a greater probability for the one partner to have many sexual partners, there is a higher likelihood to have HIV or get other sexually transmitted infections.
