Working with Women and AIDS

Women now account for one third of the ten million people with HIV infection worldwide. On World AIDS Day in December 1990 the World Health Organisation estimated that three million women are currently HIV infected and are expected to die by the year 2000. Yet until recently women have found that the available information often did not apply to them, that most services were geared towards men and that doctors and other professionals were often unprepared for the particular issues that women raise. Working with Women with AIDS fills this important gap by providing factual information and practical advice about medical, social and counselling issues concerning women and HIV infection. It explores questions of relevance to those working with women affected by HIV and AIDS: Are women more likely to be infected heterosexually than men? What are the implications of childbearing? What has the impact of AIDS been on women working in the sex industry? Do women with HIV infection have different emotional needs from men? Written by people working in the field as well as by women who are themselves HIV positive, Working with Women and AIDS provides a unique and readable combination of up-to-date medical information, a discussion of social issues, personal accounts and practical suggestions about ways of working with women affected by HIV and AIDS.