October 4th 2023.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have reported that Black women are the most affected demographic when it comes to HIV infections. This is especially concerning because, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a steep decline in HIV testing and diagnoses.
Tiara Willie, an assistant professor of mental health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, expressed her concern over this issue. “If we don’t figure out how we can change the system, we’re just going to continue to keep failing Black women,” she told NPR.
It is clear that Black women are being neglected when it comes to HIV treatments. Research and promotion of these treatments are typically geared towards gay and bisexual men, who make up the majority of those affected by HIV. However, many Black women are also afflicted by the virus, yet lack the means and resources to treat it.
Historically, disparities in healthcare have left Black women with fewer treatment options, and this is reflected in the FDA’s approval of only two PrEP options for women out of the three currently available treatments. This leaves Black women even more vulnerable to the virus. Furthermore, the third available PrEP medication, Descovy, has not been tested on cisgender women, making it difficult to assess its efficacy.
HIV advocates and researchers have highlighted the importance of increasing awareness and ensuring accessibility to treatments for Black women, or else the issue will only worsen. Although this is a complex problem, it is imperative that healthcare practitioners do their due diligence in order to ensure that Black women are not left behind.
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