HIV Infection among Transgender Women: Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract

Impressive gains continue to be made in the global fight against HIV disease. Notably, a new and growing body of observational and experimental evidence has revealed the powerful role that antiretroviral therapy can play in reducing not only morbidity and mortality at the individual level, but also HIV transmission at the population level [1,2]. This has led to renewed calls for the aggressive scale-up of HIV treatment, calls that have been supported by an array of cost effectiveness studies and prompted slogans referring to a potential “AIDS-free generation”. In addition, several studies demonstrated the potential efficacy of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) among HIVnegative individuals at risk, although fears regarding low adherence and implementation challenges resulted in a low uptake of this intervention. In 2013, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new evidence from the Bangkok Tenofovir Study suggesting that the benefits of PrEP interventions could likely be extended to people who inject drugs [3]. This trial built upon the results of previous studies reporting on potential benefits of PrEP for men who have sex with men and heterosexually active women and men [4-6].

Description

Keywords

HIV prevention, Transgender women, Public health challenges

Citation

Kerr, T., Socías, M. E., & Sued, O. (2014). HIV infection among transgender women: Challenges and opportunities. J AIDS Clin Res, 5(1), e114.