The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report on Thursday finding that 4 in 10 transgender women in seven major U.S. cities have HIV, indicating the need for HIV prevention and treatment among demographics, according to the agency. to target.
The survey conducted in 2019 and early 2020 found that 42 percent of 1,608 transgender women in Atlanta, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Seattle with a valid test result had HIV.
The report, named by the CDC as one of the most comprehensive studies of transgender women in the US, found that 62 percent of black transgender women and 35 percent of Hispanic or Latin transgender women had HIV. Meanwhile, 17 percent of white transgender women have the disease.
Nearly two-thirds of respondents said they were living in or below the poverty line and 17 percent had no health insurance. More than 4 in 10 experienced homelessness in the past year and 17 percent were in prison.
The study was released on Sunday days before National Transgender HIV Test Day.
Demetre Daskalakis, the director of the CDC’s HIV / AIDS Prevention Division, said in a press release that reducing the number of transgender women living with HIV in these cities requires “innovative and comprehensive status-neutral solutions,” requiring ongoing involvement.
“These data provide a clear and compelling picture of the serious toll of HIV on transgender women and the social and economic factors – including systemic racism and transphobia – that contribute to this unacceptable burden,” said Daskalakis.
The study found that 32 percent of respondents without HIV used pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a treatment for people who are at risk for HIV infection from sex or drug use by injection. In total, 34 percent of the participants reported having done sex work.
The CDC cited previous studies that concluded that many transgender women may not use PrEP for a variety of reasons, including medical distrust, lack of transgender-inclusive marketing, and concerns about how it will interact with hormones. Sixty-seven percent of transgender women in the CDC survey reported using hormones for gender affirmation.