Growing HIV Infection Rate Among Females Is Cause for Grave Concern
March 10, 2009HIV/AIDS statistics for women and girls are startling.
Nationwide, the percentage of new AIDS cases diagnosed among women more than doubled between 1990 and 2005 (the most recent year for which data is available), increasing from 11 percent to more than 26 percent.
Women of color continue to be disproportionately affected. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), of the 126,964 women living in 2005 with HIV/AIDS, 64 percent were black, 15 percent were Hispanic, and one percent were Asian or Pacific Islander. The CDC also notes that AIDS is the leading cause of death for black women ages 25 to 34.
New Jersey has the highest proportion of women among those living with AIDS in the United States and ranks third among the states in cumulative pediatric AIDS cases, according to a report by the state Department of Health and Senior Services.
“The statistics are ominous but we won’t give up the fight against HIV,” said Andrea Norberg, M.S., R.N., interim executive director of the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center (FXBC) at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ). An initiative of the UMDNJ-School of Nursing, the center provides HIV education, prevention, research and treatment services in the U.S. and internationally.
“We’ve seen great progress, especially in preventing mother-to-child transmission and improving quality of life for those infected by HIV,” said Norberg. “However, as the numbers show, we still have a very long way to go in stopping women from getting HIV. Women should take steps to protect themselves, know their status, and seek early treatment if they do become infected.”
Peter Oates, R.N., M.S.N., manager of the center’s health services, works closely with patients at the FXBC clinic at UMDNJ-The University Hospital. In 2008 alone, the clinic served nearly 300 females infected or affected by HIV in the Newark area. That figure includes 27 girls ages two to 12 years; 74 adolescents and young women between the ages of 13 and 24 years; more than 100 women between the ages of 25 and 44 years; and 40 women between the ages of 40 and 64 years. In addition, 45 HIV-exposed infant girls were born to infected mothers and followed by the FXBC last year.
Community outreach is a critical component in the battle against HIV/AIDS. Will an online forum be an effective tool for HIV-infected women to promote healthy living? Pamela Rothpletz-Puglia, Ed.D., R.D., director of nutrition and wellness at the FXBC, and her research team have set out to answer this question through their study comparing the benefits of a custom-built social networking site versus a traditional in-person meeting group for Newark-area women. Results of this study will be used to develop action plans for mobilizing communities to improve women’s health. Study funding is provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).
Carolyn K. Burr, Ed.D., R.N., senior education specialist at the FXBC, leads efforts to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Burr is working with hospitals across the U.S. to help them incorporate rapid HIV testing as a routine part of care. The CDC-funded effort, which first focused on patients in labor and delivery and then patients in emergency departments, now seeks to implement HIV testing for all hospital inpatients.
Provided by University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey
-
Higher HIV infection estimate shows need for routine screening, more funding for care
Aug 01, 2008 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Is HIV testing during labor feasible?
Feb 27, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Feds want HIV tests to become routine
May 08, 2006 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission in low-income countries
May 06, 2008 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Women with AIDS face cervical cancer threat
Nov 30, 2007 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Engineers build first sub-10-nm carbon nanotube transistor
Feb 01, 2012 |
4.9 / 5 (31) |
30
-
Something old, something new: Evolution and the structural divergence of duplicate genes
Jan 31, 2012 |
4.6 / 5 (7) |
1
-
The hidden nanoworld of ice crystals: Revealing the dynamic behavior of quasi-liquid layers
Jan 30, 2012 |
5 / 5 (3) |
1
-
Stock market network reveals investor clustering
Jan 27, 2012 |
3.9 / 5 (23) |
8
-
Of microchemistry and molecules: Electronic microfluidic device synthesizes biocompatible probes
Jan 26, 2012 |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
-
Classical and Quantum Mechanics via Lie algebras
Apr 15, 2011
- More from Physics Forums - Independent Research
More news stories
Injured boomers beware: Know when to see doctor
(AP) -- It happened to nurse Jane Byron years after an in-line skating fall, business owner Haralee Weintraub while doing "men's" push-ups, and avid cyclist Gene Wilberg while lifting a heavy box.
16 minutes ago |
not rated yet |
0
FDA-approved drug rapidly clears amyloid from the brain, reverses Alzheimer's symptoms in mice
Neuroscientists at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have made a dramatic breakthrough in their efforts to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease. The researchers' findings, published in the journal Science, show t ...
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Feb 09, 2012 |
4.9 / 5 (53) |
21
|
Green tea found to reduce disability in the elderly
(Medical Xpress) -- A lot of research has been done over the past several years looking into the health benefits of green tea. As a result, scientists have found that regular consumption of the beverage leads ...
Teen school drop-outs three times as likely to be on benefits in later life
Teen school drop-outs are almost three times as likely to be on benefits in later life as their peers who complete their schooling, indicates research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
Feb 06, 2012 |
not rated yet |
13
To perform with less effort, practice beyond perfection
Whether you are an athlete, a musician or a stroke patient learning to walk again, practice can make perfect, but more practice may make you more efficient, according to a surprising new University of Colorado Boulder study.
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Feb 09, 2012 |
4.4 / 5 (15) |
6
|
Google might launch Drive for cloud storage soon
(PhysOrg.com) -- Google's next big move, according to the Wall Street Journal, is a cloud storage service called Drive. Hardly first to the plate, Google is simply catching up to introducing its cloud reposi ...
Latin America mining boom clashes with conservation
Latin America is experiencing a mining boom as prices rise fuelled by a hike in global demand, but the region is also being hit by a wave of violent protests, strikes and rallies by environmentalists.
Love a click away in Indonesia's Twitter Republic
He was a geeky kid from Yogyakarta, she a glamorous city girl in Jakarta. In a country with one of the world's most vibrant social networking scenes they fell in love on Twitter.
Europeans protest controversial Internet pact
Tens of thousands of people marched in protests in more than a dozen European cities Saturday against a controversial anti-online piracy pact that critics say could curtail Internet freedom.
Walney offshore wind farm is world's biggest (for now)
(PhysOrg.com) -- The Walney wind farm on the Irish Sea--characterized by high tides, waves and windy weather--officially opened this week. The farm is treated in the press as a very big deal as the Walney ...
Navy to begin tests on electromagnetic railgun prototype launcher
The Office of Naval Research (ONR)'s Electromagnetic (EM) Railgun program will take an important step forward in the coming weeks when the first industry railgun prototype launcher is tested at a facility ...