HIV & Non-Pregnant Women

There are more than one million people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in the United States today. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that approximately one-fifth (21%) do not know they are infected.

Women make up a growing proportion of new HIV/AIDS cases in the United States and women of color are disproportionately affected:

• 19% of new HIV infections in 2015 were in women.
• 76% of new HIV infections in women in 2015 were in women of color: 61% in blacks and 16% in Hispanics/Latinas.
• 24% of the estimated new AIDS diagnoses and 20% of cumulative AIDS diagnoses in 2015 were in women.
• HIV infection was among the top 10 causes of death for black women aged 10–54 and for Hispanic/Latina women aged 15–54 between 2000–2007.

Heterosexual contact is responsible for 86% of HIV infections in women. Injection drug use is the second most common way that women acquire HIV. Among white women, 32% of HIV diagnoses are attributed to injection drug use. 

Most cases of HIV infection in women are diagnosed in the reproductive years, and an obstetrician-gynecologist often is the first health professional to provide care for an infected woman.

This section includes information for ob-gyns and other women’s health providers on routine HIV screening, state HIV testing requirements, routine gynecologic care for women with HIV infection, and preconception care. This section also includes provider tools and references, and resources for patients. Specific information on HIV and pregnant women is found in another section.