MAC AIDS Fund Supports Efforts to Spread the Word About HIV Prevention For African-American Women
African-American women are more likely to be infected with HIV than other women, and many don’t know it. So public health officials and advocates are trying to get the word out about PrEP, pre-exposure prophylaxis. It’s a daily medication that helps prevent HIV infection.
“This is all about empowering women, especially black women, by giving them sexual health options and also embarking on a path of research,” says Linda Blout, president of Black Women’s Health Imperative, a nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C. The organization is helping to launch the capital’s first citywide program to promote use of PrEP among women.
The medication, which is sold under the brand name Truvada, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2012 to prevent HIV infection. Research conducted in Africa, where HIV transmission in heterosexual couples is common, found that it is effective in preventing HIV infection when one partner is HIV positive. If the daily pill is taken consistently, it can reduce the risk of HIV infection by up to 92 percent...