We Know The Answer.

It is the same reason that other marginalized communities have higher HIV risks… discrimination. It affects marginalized community is because of lack of jobs paying a living wage.

What to know about HIV risk among transgender women
Medical News Today
August 9, 2021


Evidence from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) highlights that transgender women are at a particularly high risk for HIV infection and HIV is prevalent in this population.

While simple interventions that can help to greatly reduce the spread of HIV and save lives are available, barriers such as health inequities often prevent transgender women from receiving the help and treatment they require. A variety of factors, such as discrimination, economic vulnerability, and a lack of support, typically affects the access they may have to healthcare and HIV services.

This article will discuss why transgender women are at higher risk and suggest prevention tips. It will also discuss potential barriers for support and how transgender women may access HIV treatment.

I think that we know already what the underlining causes are…

Stigma
Transgender women disproportionately experience societal stigma and bias compared with their cisgender peers. This can also include health insurance policies that are not transgender-inclusive, which can prevent transgender women from seeking adequate medical care.

The stigmatization of transgender individuals can produce discrimination at structural, interpersonal, and individual levels. This can then also increase the vulnerability of transgender women to HIV.

Discrimination
Racism and discrimination may increase the risk of HIV transmission. A 2015 study found that ethnic minority transgender women were more likely to experience racial discrimination compared with white transgender women.

Discriminatory healthcare professionals can also deter transgender women from seeking medical advice and can act as a barrier to HIV prevention. This may also result in some people seeking treatments from unlicensed professionals, which could lead to reuse or sharing of needles and potential exposure through nonsterile medical equipment.

Economic vulnerability
Issues related to an individual’s economic standing, such as access to healthcare, employment, and housing, can increase the risk of HIV in transgender women.

The National LGBTQ Task Force notes that transgender workers report unemployment at double the rate of the population as a whole. It also notes that transgender workers are at greater risk of unemployment and poverty.

Which results in more trans people being forced to make their living from the street…

Sex work
Transgender women may rely on sex work, due to the stigma and discrimination from employers in the traditional labor market. Transgender women may also participate in behaviors that can increase the risk of exposure to HIV during sex work, such as unprotected anal sex.

And that in turn leads to...

Drug use
Low self-esteem
Lack of support

It is a vicious downward spiral. Lack of employment due to discrimination > Sex work > Low self-esteem > Drug use > Lack of healthcare > Debilitating diseases.

It can be broken at any point along the chain by,

• Strong non-discrimination laws,
• Strong support networks,
• Access to detox centers,
• Access to healthcare.

But back in the eighties HIV/AIDS was politicized (Hmm, didn’t we just hear that about some other virus? Oh, yeah… COVID-19) and they didn’t want to fund research or prevention because it was a “Gay man’s disease.” Back then we heard “I’m straight and don’t visit prostitutes and I don’t want to fund these deviant “lifestyles.” But the thing is viruses are not political, they are an equal opportunity virus. Maybe he doesn’t sleep with sex workers but the girl at the bar he picked up slept with a guy who did.

We may think that I don’t have to worry about STDs and STIs but many of our trans sisters and trans brothers do and we should care about them.

Federal funding for Ryan White programs has just about stayed the same for the last eight years while cost have gone up. I find it distasteful is that Congress named the funding after Ryan White who was a hemophiliac and got AIDS through a blood transfusion, they couldn’t bring themselves to name it after a gay man because of bigotry.

So the bottom-line we should always take proper precautions and help break down barriers to healthcare because viruses don’t care of our political beliefs.