One Group of People Is Acquiring HIV in Record Numbers, But We Don’t Talk About Them
Findings from the World Health Organization indicate that transgendered women are 49 times more likely than the general population to contract HIV, making transgendered women the highest at risk population for contracting HIV (Lang 2015). The issue is complex and the article points to a number of factors that contribute to creating situations where transgendered women are put at risk for contracting HIV and where treatment options are limited or denied (Lang 2015). Transphobia and poverty are two of the biggest factors that contribute to the high rate (Lang 2015). Transphobia often leads to discrimination in the workplace and from landlords making it difficult for transgendered women to find and maintain stable jobs and shelter (Lang 2015). “In many states in the US it’s still legal to fire or evict someone on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity” (Lang 2015). This leads to poverty often forcing transgendered women to seek alternative situations to support herself, many of which, such as sex work, have been criminalized (Lang 2015). The threat of imprisonment often leads transgendered women for withholding information from healthcare workers and from seeking treatment (Lang 2015). There is still a very prevalent ideology in the US that HIV is punishment for behavior. As such, an HIV diagnosis can lead to further stigmatization to an already marginalized population and reinforce criminalization that transgendered women often face.
Furthermore transgendered women remain an overlooked population within the healthcare sector. As a group transgendered women are often ignored (Lang 2015). According to HIV and transgender advocates, transgendered women often face a lack of support from doctors and the health care system, both of which are “still struggling with how to treat trans patients” (Lang 2015). Also, HIV prevention materials are often written in language that does not have a transgendered audience in mind (Lang 2015). Cecilia Chung, a senior strategist for the Transgender Law Center, explains that medical professionals, researchers and the health care system continue to ignore transgender women and the realities they face (Lang 2015).
Lang, Nico. 2015. “One group of people is acquiring HIC in record numbers, but we don’t talk about it.” Yahoo News, December 2, 2015. Retrieved December 2, 2015 (https://www.yahoo.com/news/one-group-people-acquiring-hiv-204557712.html)