A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that diagnoses of HIV infection among women declined 17 percent during 2011–2015, but a total of 7,498 women – 60% of whom are black – received a diagnosis of HIV infection in 2015. By the end of 2014, an estimated 255,900 women were living with HIV infection, including approximately 12 percent who did not know they were infected. Approximately 45 percent of women who had received a diagnosis had not achieved viral suppression.
Analysis of CDC-funded program data submitted by 61 health departments in 2015 indicated that among 4,749 women tested who received a diagnosis of HIV infection, 2,951 (62%) had received a diagnosis in the past (previous diagnosis), and 1,798 (38%) were receiving a diagnosis for the first time (new diagnosis). Of those who had received a previous diagnosis, 87 percent were not in HIV medical care at the time of the current test.
Read the report to view the other findings and see the implications of this latest data.