National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day March 10th

National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NWGHAAD) is a nationwide initiative celebrated on March 10 every year to raise awareness of the increasing impact of HIV/AIDS on women and girls.

Every 35 minutes, a woman tests positive for HIV in the United States. More and more women have become infected with HIV since it was first reported in the early 1980s. Today, about 1 in 4 Americans living with HIV are women. Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has released a statement that highlights some of the alarming statistics related to the rates of HIV/AIDS in women and teenage girls: "In the United States, women and teenage girls accounted for more than a quarter of all new HIV/AIDS diagnoses in 2007 and more than 93,900 cumulative deaths from AIDS. Black women in this country suffer disproportionately from the HIV/AIDS epidemic, as they acquire new HIV infections at nearly 15 times the rate of white women. Worldwide, half of the estimated 33.4 million people living with HIV in 2008 were female, and HIV was the leading cause of disease and death for women of childbearing age."  To read the full statement click here.

The Office of Women's Health website offers planning resources, events by state and health resources.  To visit the site click here.

Check out this podcast from AIDS.gov about NWGHAAD, click here.

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