National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

Today is National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.  The theme for 2009 is "HIV is Right Here at Home." 

 According to HHS, in 2005, women represented 26 percent of new AIDS diagnoses, compared with only 11 percent of new AIDS cases reported in 1990. Most women are infected with HIV through heterosexual contact and injection drug use.  Women of color are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS, with AIDS now the leading cause of death for black women ages 25 to 34. 

According to the New York City Health Department 90 percent of the HIV-positive women in NYC are black or Latina. Many are teenage girls.

Education and awareness programs are essential to preventing the spread of HIV infection, and we need to ensure that those who are infected take care of themselves by following their doctors' orders regarding medicines, diet, and exercise. 

While the discovery and development of HIV medicines have made HIV a chronic disease today, we cannot allow the statistics quoted above to continue.  Healthcare has to be a strategic mix of prevention, innovative pharmaceutical research, and finding novel ways to increase access to care that can prolong lives and reduce further transmission of diseases like HIV.  Medicines alone cannot turn the tide.

As we look toward a reformed healthcare system, the concepts of prevention, intervention, and innovation must be highly-valued in order to get a better handle on our health and healthcare spending.