The Effects of Social Determinants on Black Women’s HIV Risk

Abstract

Black women continue to be disproportionately affected by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS. To theorize additional approaches to HIV prevention targeting Black women, this study explores how social determinants related to sexual oppression, poverty, racial segregation, and mass incarceration of Blacks place Black women at increased risk of HIV exposure. The role of other risk factors such as sexual exploitation of the Black female body, poverty, residential racial segregation, and the mass incarceration of Black men are also explored. The study concludes with an examination of how these social determinants might be used to inform prevention approaches to help reduce HIV transmissions among Black women.