The Canadian HIV Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Cohort Study (CHIWOS, www.chiwos.ca) is a community-based research study seeking to measure the use and impact of women-centred care for women living with HIV. The study meaningfully engages HIV-positive women throughout the research process and aims to create new knowledge that can be used to advance their health and well-being. As of May 2015, 1,425 women living with HIV across Canada enrolled into CHIWOS. Of these, 356 were from BC.
One way that we sought to give back to our BC community was through the creation of infographics, or visual fact sheets. Through these infographics, we hope that participants will learn more about the vibrant CHIWOS community they are now a part of, and that HIV clinics and ASOs will benefit from knowing what services they are using most as well as what barriers they experience when wanting to access them. Below is a brief description of the statistics presented in each infographic. Please note they refer to BC participants only.
Demographics
First, in the Demographics infographic, we provide a picture of who our BC participants are. Nearly half (45%) identify as Indigenous, 39% as Caucasian, 8% as African, Caribbean, Black
Canadian and another 8% as other ethnicities. Some (7%) of our participants are under the age of 30, with roughly equal distributions across the remaining age groups (30-39, 40-49, and >50). Close to one-fifth (17%) of our participants reported their sexual orientation as lesbian, gay, bisexual, two-spirited or gender queer. A large proportion have ever injected drugs (62%) or been incarcerated (63%), while few (10%) are currently engaged in sex work. In terms of sexual and reproductive health indicators, 57% of our provincial cohort has had sex in the 6 months before their interview (defined as consensual oral, anal, or vaginal sex) and 79% has had children (measured as ‘live births’ and explored more thoroughly in wave 2). Overall, participants are well-connected to HIV care, with 89% on treatment and 80% having an undetectable viral load. These indicators highlight the diversity of women with HIV in BC, which underscore the importance of a women-centred approach throughout levels of the HIV response.