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CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS LAUD NEW REPORT TRACKING HIV/AIDS AMONG NYC WOMEN BY NEIGHBORHOOD

60% of HIV-positive women reside in just 4 areas of Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Manhattan; targeting services to these areas would reap substantial public health benefits

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Nancy Goldstein (347 563 1647): goldstein.nancy@gmail.com or
Rona Taylor (917 470 6494): rbtaylor66@gmail.com

NEW YORK – A disproportionate percentage of women and girls living with HIV and AIDS reside in just 14 ZIP codes in eastern Brooklyn, the Bronx, and northern Manhattan, according to Women Living with HIV and AIDS in NYC: A Mapping Project and Literature Review. Economic stressors in these “hot spots,” including high rates of poverty and incarceration, heighten women’s risk for acquiring HIV. Consequently, the report recommends that local politicians, service providers, and advocates work together to reduce HIV risk among NYC’s women and girls by enacting reform in areas such as housing, education, health care, and the correctional system, and targeting services to these areas of highest need.

“Our research identifies down to the ZIP code those areas with the highest concentrations of HIV-positive women,” said Rona Taylor, Board President of The Women’s HIV Collaborative of New York. “This report overlays accessible maps of this ‘hot spot’ data with other maps that indicate those areas with high levels of poverty and prison admissions and low rates of high school graduation. In doing so it provides a virtual road map of NYC’s areas of greatest need.”

Members of the New York City Council strongly support the report’s findings. City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn said, “I thank the Women’s HIV Collaborative of New York for their comprehensive report, which my colleagues in the Council and I will now have as a tool as we look at what more we can be doing on a city level. It clearly shows that our fight against HIV/AIDS is nowhere near the end.” Council Member Darlene Mealy adds, “This new study allows us to pinpoint the areas with the highest rates of HIV/AIDS cases. Based on this information we have a greater understanding of the communities who are most at risk, and now we can focus our attention on limiting new cases through education and outreach.”

Ten percent of the women and girls with HIV in the U.S. live in NYC, making it home to the largest population of women with HIV in the country. A disproportionate number of these women—90 percent—are black and Hispanic; over half, or 68 percent, are over the age of 40; and more than a third, or 41 percent, were infected through heterosexual activity.

“This report clearly highlights that the vast majority of all HIV infections among women occur in neighborhoods with highly concentrated poverty,” said Council Member Al Vann. “This provides policymakers and social service providers with evidence that large investments in addressing poverty and its resulting social issues must be made in such neighborhoods in order to achieve any significant decrease in infection rates among women in New York City.”

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