Older Black Women Aren’t Being Told About PrEP to Prevent HIV
FG Trade via iStock
Patients should feel safe to discuss any aspect of their sexual health with their care providers. Whether it is an unexpected discharge, a hard-to-explain injury, or a request for sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing, medical professionals should be available to offer their patients the information and services they need. Unfortunately, that is not how it goes for many Black women in this country when it comes to HIV, particularly when they are older.
Case in point: Though they only make up 13% of all women in the U.S., Black women accounted for 57% of all women who tested positive for HIV in 2018. In addition to this disproportionate representation, what makes this statistic so alarming is that most Black women are unaware that they are at risk for seroconversion or that pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is available to protect them from HIV.