Women in the HIV epidemic

In the United States, the majority of women with HIV/AIDS are women whose lives have been touched by injection drug use--their own or that of their sexual partners. The pattern of opportunistic infections in women is more similar to that of injection drug users than that of homosexual men. Specific complications associated with a woman's reproductive tract include persistent Candida vaginitis, human papillomavirus infections, cervical dysplasias, and, possibly, pelvic inflammatory disease. Childbearing decisions for women with HIV infection are complex and culturally mediated. Meeting the challenge of providing high quality services to women with HIV infection requires major changes in the service delivery system.