Women Living with HIV Does Sex and Gender Matter? A Current Literature Review.

Abstract

If women die faster of AIDS, it is a matter of gender, but not sex. Providing access to treatment, psychosocial and behavioural aspects of adherence are mediated as a function of gender. Missing data on side effects and pharmacokinetic profiles of various treatments in women may be explained by the lack of regulatory requirements for statistically meaningful participation of women and sex-specific analysis as licensing criteria for drug approval. Involvement of women s community advisory boards (CABs) in the design of future studies may help to gather knowledge for recommendations in the treatment of women living with HIV.