How Serious Is HIV for Women?

How Serious Is HIV for Women?

Only 7% of AIDS cases reported in 1985 in the U.S. were women and girls. That percentage grew to 27% in 2007. About 80% of women are infected through sex with an HIV-infected man (often an injection drug user), and many through injection drug use (see Fact Sheet 154 on drug use and HIV). In the U.S., AIDS rates among women are highest in the Southeast and the Northeast. In 2005, about 64% of infected women in the U.S. are Black, although only 13% of the U.S. population is Black. Please see Fact Sheet 611 for more information on pregnancy and HIV.