The face of HIV has changed dramatically from the early days of the epidemic. Women now comprise more than half of all people living with HIV around the world. In Canada, an estimated 16,600 women are living with HIV/AIDS out of an estimated 71,300 HIV-positive Canadians. Women also represent an increasing proportion of annual positive HIV test reports, accounting for 23 per cent of the Canada total in 2011, nearly double the proportion observed in 1999 (12 per cent). Despite the changing epidemiology of HIV in Canada and globally, relatively limited research has focused on health issues specific to women living with HIV.
The increasing burden of HIV/AIDS on Canada’s female population is deeply concerning. We know that women face greater biological susceptibility to HIV. Women also face increased vulnerability due to prevailing social inequities including poverty, violence and racial marginalization.
Providing all people living with HIV with appropriate and timely treatment and care is critical to reduce HIV-related morbidity, mortality, and new HIV transmissions. However, women continue to face unique barriers to accessing treatment and care and show poorer outcomes. It’s therefore critical that we gain a better understanding of the needs of women living with HIV.
In an effort to acknowledge and address the gendered barriers to HIV treatment and care for Canadian women, our national team of researchers, clinicians, service providers, policy-makers, and women living with HIV collaborated to develop the Canadian HIV Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Cohort Study (CHIWOS). After two years of groundwork, CHIWOS was officially launched on October 1, 2013, the start of Women’s Health Awareness Month.
Angela Kaida
Hospital News
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