Strategies for Preventing HIV in Women

CDC works with states and communities to provide the information and tools needed to design and implement effective local prevention programs. Each community faces unique prevention challenges, and programs must be locally relevant and workable. HIV prevention works best if designed and implemented by those closest to the problem, with input from the individual and groups for whom programs are designed.

In December 1993, CDC initiated a new process to put more of the decisions about prevention programs in the hands of the communities affected. The process, HIV Prevention Community Planning, represents a significant step forward in planning culturally competent and scientifically sound HIV prevention services that specifically address unique community needs.

CDC is committed to providing the best available science to guide prevention. To fulfill this role, CDC has several responsibilities, including tracking the HIV/AIDS epidemic, conducting and disseminating research, and evaluating what works in HIV prevention. For example, CDC is evaluating the safety, effectiveness, and acceptability of female-controlled prevention methods, such as the female condom and products that might act as topical microbicides.

In addition, CDC conducts extensive behavioral research to increase our understanding of the many factors that make women vulnerable to HIV infection. For example, a recent study conducted among young women who are sexually active found that those whose first sex partner was an older man were less likely to use condoms and possibly at higher risk for HIV infection than young women whose first partner was about the same age. Such social and behavioral research is critically important to researchers who develop interventions designed to prevent HIV infection and pregnancy among young women.

CDC has conducted and supported research on the epidemiology of women who have sex with women, and continues to investigate HIV risk factors for this population.

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