HIV/AIDS and Transgender People

 

In the District of Columbia, transgender women (male-to-females, or MTFs) are one of the highest at-risk groups for HIV Infection *

 

  • Thirty-two percent of transgender women (MTFs) who participated in the 2000 Washington, DC, Transgender Needs Assessment Survey (WTNAS) reported they were HIV-positive.

 

  • Three percent of female-to-male transgender WTNAS participants were HIV-positive.

 

  • Eighty-one percent of those who were HIV-positive were African-American.  Two-thirds of those who were HIV-positive believe they became infected through unprotected sex with men.

 

  • The most significant factors associated with being HIV-positive among WTNAS participants included a history of sexual assault, a history of sex work, and unemployment.

 

  • Twenty-two percent of WTNAS participants did not know their HIV status, including 18 percent who had never been tested for HIV.

 

  • Data from other quantitative needs assessments, sexual risk and substance abuse studies of urban transgender populations in the United States have found HIV prevalence rates ranging from 14 percent to 68 percent.

 

  • The Centers for Disease Control and the DC HIV/AIDS Administration do not separate transgender people from their Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) HIV surveillance category. This omission makes it extremely difficult to accurately determine the HIV prevalence rate in this population.

 

 

*  As self-reported by participants (n=252: 69% African-American, 22% Latino/a) in the 2000 Washington, D.C. Transgender Needs Assessment Survey implemented by Us Helping Us – People Into Living, Inc. and funded by the Administration for HIV/AIDS, Department of Health, Government of the District of Columbia.

 

Sources

 

Xavier, J. (2000). Final report of the Washington Transgender Needs Assessment Survey, Washington, DC: Administration for HIV and AIDS, District of Columbia Department of Health.

 

Xavier, J., Bobbin, M., Singer, T.B. and Budd, E. (2005). A Needs Assessment of Transgendered People of Color Living in Washington, DC. International Journal of Transgenderism, 8 (2/3), 31-47.