There was a time when AIDS was commonly associated with men and homosexuality. However, with the passage of years, AIDS can no more be demarked as a disease of a certain gender, sexual preference or overtly sexually activated lifestyle. The disease is highly diagnosed in women all over the world as well.
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome rates as the fifth largest fatality factor in women between the age group of 35 to 44 years and sixth reason of death amongst women of age 25 to 44 years. Cancer and heart problems are the only two diseases that portray a higher risk in women in comparison to AIDS.
The statistics of the year 2005 highlighted a total of 41,000 people with AIDS in the United States. Out of this population, 26 percent happened to be women. The incidence of the disease is definitely higher in black women, the figures being 23 times more than white women. Studies conducted for the year 2005 projected 127,000 women affected with AIDS in the US. Of these, 64 percent were black, 19 percent white, 15 percent Hispanic, 1 percent Asian and less than 1 percent American Indian. However, the reports also provided heartening news of the decrease in the number of HIV cases in women from 12,000 in 2001 to approximately 9,700 in 2005. The statistics of 2008 revealed 31.3 million adults alive with the deadly disease across the world, of which about 50 percent were women.
Women show higher contraction of the infection via heterosexual transmission. 98 percent of affected women hail from the developing countries. The reason behind this ratio could possibly be inability to convince one’s sexual partner for use of condom or forced sex without consent. Since infected women are the carriers of the disease to their new born babies, the situation definitely calls for empowering women with their rights and increasing awareness of the disease amongst them.
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