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US Regional Changes in Racial/Ethnic Disparities in HIV Diagnoses Among Women in the United States, 2012 and 2017

  • Donna Hubbard McCreeEmail author
  • Harrell Chesson
  • Erin L. P. Bradley
  • Ashley Lima
  • Angelica Geter Fugerson
Original Paper
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Abstract

Racial/ethnic and geographic disparities in HIV diagnosis rates exist among women in the United States. Black/African American women are disproportionately affected; rates are highest in the South and Northeast. Monitoring progress towards eliminating disparities in HIV diagnosis rates among women is a national HIV prevention goal. To illustrate the performance of different measures of disparities, we compared 2012 and 2017 HIV diagnosis rates among adult and adolescent females by race/ethnicity and geographic region. We used HIV surveillance data for diagnoses and five absolute and three relative measures of disparity. The absolute disparity decreased in each region; the relative disparity decreased with the exception of one measure in the Northeast and South. Despite progress, disparities in HIV diagnosis rates among women remain. Appropriate strategies to measure progress and contextualize findings are needed.

Keywords

HIV diagnosis rates Women Disparities US geographic region Social determinants of health 
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Notes

Compliance with Ethical Standards

Conflict of interest

All authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.

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Copyright information

© This is a U.S. Government work and not under copyright protection in the US; foreign copyright protection may apply  2019

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Division of HIV/AIDS PreventionNational Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, MS H18-3, Centers for Disease Control and PreventionAtlantaUSA
  2. 2.Division of STD PreventionCenters for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB PreventionAtlantaUSA
  3. 3.Oak Ridge Institute for Science and EducationOak RidgeUSA

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