WASHINGTON, DC – (December 6, 2019) Today, the Black Women’s Health Imperative (BWHI) released its national HIV/AIDS policy agenda on Black Women’s Health titled The HIV/AIDS Policy Agenda for Black Women. The agenda also features contributions from other leading women’s health organizations, which include the Positive Women’s Network, AIDS United, SisterLove, Inc., and Women Organized to Respond to Life-Threatening Diseases (WORLD), and was developed with the generous support of Gilead Sciences.
Black Americans have been disproportionately impacted by HIV and AIDS since the epidemic’s beginning, and that disparity has deepened over time. While representing only 12 percent of the United States population, Black Americans accounted for almost half (42 percent, or 476,100) of the estimated 1.1 million people living with HIV (PLHIV) – both diagnosed and undiagnosed – and almost half (44 percent) of those diagnosed with HIV in 2016.
“We must continue to raise the health profile of Black women and the specific health-related needs and interests of Black women if we are to ever have a chance of ending the HIV epidemic by 2030,” said Valerie Rochester, Vice President for Program Strategy at AIDS United. “This policy agenda offers unique guidance on how legislators and policy makers can best ensure the needs of Black women are elevated.”
The HIV/AIDS Policy Agenda for Black Women covers several vital issues, which include prevention of future HIV infections and identifying research priorities, access to comprehensive treatment for all Black women living with HIV, and the provision of essential supports, beyond medical treatment, that improve the emotional and physical wellbeing of Black women who are living with HIV. Under each key area, BWHI includes a thorough discussion regarding important policy issues facing Black women today.
Midwives of Color 