New study on women-specific HIV health service
Little research has been done on women’s health issues in HIV, despite increasing numbers of HIV-positive women globally and within Canada
HIV affects everyone, yet it’s clear that women’s experiences with HIV are unique. There are significant differences that stem from biology, socially constructed gender differences, and from economic and social conditions such as income, education and housing among many.
Funded by CIHR and affiliated with the Canadian Observational Cohort (CANOC, CTN 242) collaboration, CTN 262 – Canadian HIV Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Cohort Study (CHIWOS) is a multi-site, community-collaboration that seeks to address this gap in Canada.
“It will bring community members, researchers and service-providers together to learn from HIV-positive women about the challenges we face in accessing care,” says Shari Margolese, the study’s peer research coordinator and member of CTN’s Community Advisory Committee.
Led by Drs. Mona Loutfy of the Women’s College Hospital in Toronto, Robert Hogg from the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Angela Kaida of Simon Fraser University and Alexandra de Pokomandy of the Montreal Chest Institute, CHIWOS brings together 29 co-investigators and 25 community collaborators to assess health service disparities for women living with HIV.
“HIV-positive women in Canada are not a homogenous group,” says Dr. Mona Loutfy. Prevalence in BC is highest among Aboriginal women, women who inject drugs, and female sex workers. In Quebec and Ontario, it is highest among women in the African and Caribbean communities. She says this underscores the need to understand and address how systems of racism, colonial legacies, homophobia, classism, and sexism increase vulnerability to HIV and impact health care for women living with HIV.
Enrolling in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec (with plans to expand), CHIWOS will begin recruiting positive women aged 16 years and older in March 2012.
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