Black Women’s Health
Health disparities and inequities continue to impact the lives of Black women across various health conditions, including, sexual health. Racism, stigma, poverty, and other social determinants drive high rates of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. Cisgender women (women who identified as a woman at birth) account for 19% of all new HIV infections, and a staggering 57% of those new infections are among Black women. The problem is especially bad in the South.
Not enough has been done to address the heavy toll HIV takes on Black women, especially when there is a safe, effective way to reduce HIV transmission. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a pill that prevents HIV infection when taken as prescribed. Men who have sex with men have been a focus for PrEP for years, but cisgender women have not been prioritized, especially Black cisgender women.
This needs to change – and that’s why we’ve partnered with Black cisgender women and beauty salons to co-develop UPDOs Protective Styles (Using PrEP, Doing it for Ourselves Protective Styles). While the primary focus of UPDOs is HIV prevention, it takes a comprehensive approach to addressing women’s overall health.
Facts, figures, and resources
Black Women and Sexual Health
For Black Woman, 91% of new HIV infections were attributed to heterosexual contact.
HIV infection rate among Black women was the highest compared to women of all other races and ethnicities.
Read more about HIV and the Black community in the U.S. on the CDC website.
Black Women and Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)
Black women disproportionately experience violence at home, at school, on the job, and in their neighborhoods.
Black women face high rates of intimate partner violence, rape, and homicide.
Black girls and women also experience institutionalized racism; they are disproportionately punished in school, funneled into the criminal justice system after surviving physical or sexual abuse, disproportionately subjected to racial profiling and police brutality, and incarcerated at rates far exceeding their share of the population.
Black girls are suspended or expelled from public schools at much higher rates than other girls.
More than four in ten Black women experience physical violence from an intimate partner during their lifetimes. White women, Latinas, and Asian/Pacific Islander women report lower rates.
Learn move about IPV on the CDC’s Fast Facts: Preventing Intimate Partner Violence
Black Women and Cardiovascular Health
Cardiovascular diseases kill nearly 50,000 Black women annually.
Of Black women ages 20 and older, 49 percent have heart diseases.
Only one in five Black women believes she is personally at risk for cardiovascular disease.
Only 58% of Black women are aware of the signs and symptoms of a heart attack.
Learn more an the American Heart Association’s Heart Disease and Stroke in Black Women