Black African women

Over the course of the UK’s HIV epidemic, there has been a dramatic increase in the proportion of new HIV diagnoses which occur in women, from 13% in 1993 to 34% in 2009. Most women acquired HIV through heterosexual sex and 62% of them are black African.1

In BASS Line, African women were more likely than men to have a problem with talking about HIV and safer sex with their sexual partners (but were not less confident about getting partners to use condoms or any less empowered to reduce their HIV risk).2

An in-depth study with 62 black African women with HIV found that many struggled to combine motherhood (seen as the defining characteristic of adult women) with their life with HIV in London. Almost all (55) had children, but many had to be left behind in Africa, and being unable to perform maternal responsibilities was extremely distressing. At least twelve had children who were HIV-positive and the risk of transmission during a future pregnancy was a concern.

Many of the women were living as single parents, without a well-developed support network of relatives. The women found managing information about their HIV status challenging, especially as women are traditionally expected to be the moral guardians of society, a role threatened by the perception that HIV is associated with promiscuity. During interviews, most women chose to emphasise their status as ‘innocent victims’. Many found it easier to live without sexual relationships, rather than to deal with the dilemmas of disclosure and safer sex. This could lead to isolation and emotional emptiness, although a focus on children could provide some compensation.3,4

See also

References

  1. Health Protection Agency HIV in the United Kingdom: 2010 Report. Health Protection Report 2010 4(47), November 2010
  2. Hickson F et al. Bass Line 2008-09: Assessing the sexual HIV prevention needs of African people in England. Sigma Research, 2009
  3. Doyal L, Anderson J 'My fear is to fall in love again...' how HIV-positive African women survive in London. Soc Sci Med. Apr; 60(8):1729-38, 2005
  4. Doyal L et al. My Heart is Loaded: African Women Surviving With HIV in London. The Health Foundation/Terrence Higgins Trust, 2003
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