The incidence of new infections in Canadian women is increasing. Women may not see themselves as ‘at-risk’ for HIV infection and may not get tested or be aware of how to protect themselves.
The main risk factors for women are injection drug use and sex with heterosexual men. Some determinants of health affecting the increasing incidence of infection in women include:
Income and Social Status: Women living in poverty may not have access to resources that help prevent HIV and manage HIV/AIDS. Social status and income may limit women’s negotiation of safer sex practices if they depend on sexual partners for financial assistance.
Social Support Networks: Women living in poverty are already marginalized from their communities. HIV-positive women have an additional layer of stigma when trying to manage their health and can be isolated from their communities because of their HIV-positive status.
Social Environments: Women living in abusive relationships have limited power to negotiate healthy environments for themselves. Many women do not have the freedom to negotiate or practice safer sex. Women who are emotionally dependent on their partners may risk rejection if they insist on safer sex practices. Domestic, street, and sexual violence can also limit women’s rights in their lives. Cultural and religious norms and practices also affect women’s ability to practice safer sex. Some women are culturally unprepared to be assertive toward their sexual partners when it comes to sex, even if they are dominant in other areas of the relationship.
Physical Environments: Women living in rural areas often do not have access to prevention programming or medical treatment compared to women living in an urban centre.
Personal Health Practices & Coping Skills: Women who inject drugs or have partners that inject drugs are at high-risk for HIV infection. Due to other determinants of health, women who inject drugs may not have the supports or knowledge to use drugs as safely as possible or to discontinue their drug use.
Other factors: