More effective HIV/AIDS prevention, education efforts needed to reach Black, Hispanic girls, women, letter says

Sep 11 2008

An "otherwise excellent" editorial recently published by the New York Times did not "mention the rapid spread of HIV among women and girls of color," Tracie Gardner, director of New York state policy and coordinator of the Women's Initiative To Stop HIV-New York at the Legal Action Center, writes in a Times letter to the editor.

Young black and Hispanic women "make up almost 30% of newly reported HIV infections in New York City," Gardner writes, adding, "Today's HIV epidemic among women and girls is fueled largely by heterosexual transmission."

Recent figures from CDC indicate that "more than one in four American teenage girls" has a sexually transmitted infection, but the "infection rate for black girls is 48%," according to Gardner. More "effective education, prevention and outreach that reaches" girls "where they are" is needed, Gardner writes, adding that HIV/AIDS information should be made "accessible in barber shops, nail salons and community restaurants" and that HIV testing should be offered in a 'broader range of health and social service settings." She concludes that there "should not be a fourth decade of new infections" (Gardner, New York Times, 9/10).