“From left to right: Toya Tolson, Shawnte’ Spriggs, Sophia Harrison, Marcella Wright and Deborah Dyson. These women are aging with HIV, sometimes with other diseases and always with other challenges. Aamir Khuller, CC BY-NC-SA”

by Thurka Sangaramoorthy

“The face of HIV in the United States has long been white gay men, even though the epidemic has had a devastating and disproportionate impact on African-American communities.

“This is especially true among women; 60 percent of newly diagnosed cases of HIV in women in 2017 were African-American. Yet, African-American women’s voices are notoriously absent from the national discourse on HIV.

“Largely invisible to a fractured health care system, these women are often breadwinners and matriarchs whose families count on them for support and care.

“Treatments to help people who are HIV-positive manage their illness and survive into older age have improved greatly, yet the unique health needs of African-American women living and aging with HIV – estimated at about 140,000 – are often ignored.”

Click here to read this article at The Conversation in its entirety.