HOUSTON — Despite medications available to treat and prevent the spread of HIV, numbers are increasing, including among women.
"Women were not considered a group of individuals that were going to get HIV, but were pushing upwards of 20%," said Dr. Robin Hardwicke with UT Physicians.
And the only way to fix the problem is through education.
In 2021, 18% of the new HIV diagnoses in the United States were among women and 23% of those living with HIV are women.
"Educating not only providers and our community about this, but educating women to know that they're at risk is the direction that we need to take," Hardwicke said.
Most women who have HIV know they are positive, but many women are not receiving the HIV care that they need, according to research from Emory University's Rolling School of Public Health
Pre-exposure prophylaxis or PREP, is a highly effective medication that can reduce your chance of getting HIV. Men and women can be prescribed PREP, but only 8% of its supply is taken by women.
"Anyone who has sex or changes sex partners more than one time in a year should talk to their health care provider about getting PREP to help prevent HIV transmission," Hardwicke said.
Few women are even aware that prep exist.
"I would help that if you go to your OB-GYN as a female and you ask them for PREP," Hardicke said. "I would hope that they're able to do that for you. If not, refer."
The CDC suggests PREP should be prescribed to women who are at substantial risk, so that means any HIV negative woman who has had sex with male partners in the past six months who is not monogamous.
It also includes women who infrequently use condoms or have had a sexually transmitted infection in the past six months.
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