Women--the missing persons in the AIDS epidemic. Part II.

In the Winter 1989 issue, Anastos and Marte wrote about the neglect of women in defining and treating AIDS. Women in the AIDS epidemic, they wrote, are considered mainly as vectors of transmission to men or children, not as people who are themselves HIV-infected and victims of transmission. They are predominantly women of color who, by the dictates of poverty and racism, live in communities at high risk for HIV infection. They are subjected to demeaning attitudes, poor health care services, and tragically late diagnosis in many cases. In this article the authors examine the issues of reproductive rights and HIV testing in women hospitalized for childbirth. Wendy Chavkin continues the discussion on p. 19, focusing on the efforts of AIDS prevention programs to target women solely because of their reproductive function and on the lack of services available for women who are tested.