AIDS and women: an international perspective.

ABSTRACT

PIP: This article begins by casting AIDS as a diagnostic category that rests at the tip of the HIV iceberg and by briefly noting the primary modes of HIV transmission. The next two sections review AIDS incidence in the US as of October 1988 and international AIDS incidence and concludes that the HIV infection rates among women are increasing nationally and internationally. The paper continues with a look at 1) high-risk behavior, 2) high-risk groups, 3) high-risk physiological indicators, and 4) other factors that increase risk of infection. The discussion of AIDS in women is introduced by reporting that at least 100,000 women in the US carried the AIDS virus as of 1988. Consideration is then given to the three specific health conditions that should trigger assessment of a woman's HIV risk: respiratory infections, gynecological infections, and pregnancy. Additional challenges facing women include 1) the legal and other implications for prostitutes who are HIV positive, 2) caring for the infected children of dying women, 3) socioeconomic burdens faced by women, 4) access to health care, 5) impediments to child bearing caused by HIV, 6) HIV-induced changes in families, 7) testing and counseling, 8) receiving adequate treatment, 9) consideration of women as vectors instead of victims, and 10) the disproportionate number of minority women affected.