Please note: The reference numbers in the text below will take you to the reference section of the CDC fact sheet HIV/AIDS and Women.

Research has shown that women, as well as men, benefit from HIV prevention programs. Women benefit from programs aimed at increasing their awareness of their own risk, assertiveness in sexual situations, and coping skills.

Advancing HIV Prevention. All four strategies of this CDC initiative apply to women, especially the fourth.

• Make HIV testing a routine part of medical care.
• Find ways to diagnose HIV outside of doctors’ offices.
• Prevent new infections by working with HIV-infected people and their partners.
• Decrease mother-to-child HIV transmission.

Effective interventions. CDC has found the following interventions to be effective:

• Teaching young heterosexual black women about assertiveness, negotiation, and condom use
• Teaching male and female low-income, urban patients at high risk about expectations of outcome, skills, and the belief that their words and actions will be effective at preventing HIV transmission
• Showing videos on assertiveness, negotiation, and planning skills to promote abstinence and safer behaviors among single, inner-city pregnant women

HIV Prevention Strategic Plan. One of CDC’s HIV Prevention Strategic Plan objectives is to increase among at-risk sexually active women and at-risk heterosexual men the proportions who consistently engage in behaviors that reduce risk for HIV acquisition or transmission.

Funding. CDC funds 22 CBOs that focus primarily on women.

Demonstration projects. These projects are using women’s social networks to reach others at high risk in communities of color (African American or Hispanic) and offer HIV testing to partners of HIV-infected men.