Young Women of Color and HIV/AIDS: Where Did We Go Wrong?

HIV infection rates have declined in other high-risk populations, yet new HIV and AIDS cases among black women and Latinas in New York State have more than tripled in the last 15 years. Women of color now account for 85 percent of women in the state living with HIV/AIDS. Nearly half of the females newly infected with HIV are teens and most of the rest are women aged 20 to 24. Why have prevention efforts failed some of New York’s youngest and most vulnerable residents? What can be done to reverse the trend?

Speakers: Gus Birkhead, Director, New York State AIDS Institute Tracie Gardner, Director of New York State Policy & Coordinator, Women’s Initiative to Stop HIV/AIDS (WISH-New York), Legal Action Center Sandra Ruiz Butter, Chair, New York State AIDS Advisory Council Claire Simon, Deputy Director for Programs, Love Heals, the Alison Gertz Foundation for AIDS Education