Transgender women’s higher risk for HIV is influenced by discrimination, CDC finds
Transgender women, in particular those belonging to marginalized racial and ethnic groups, have disproportionately high rates of HIV. Yet so far, no standardized surveillance system has collected data that could provide insight into the factors that put people at higher risk for contracting the virus.
A survey of transgender women, developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, aimed to gather and assess behavioral data in relation to HIV prevention and risk for the first time. An analysis of the survey results, published Tuesday in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, points to the high levels of social and economic marginalization that trans women experience as potential factors in the group’s higher risk for HIV.
