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Updated February 2008
Women account for a growing proportion of positive HIV tests reports with known age and gender among adults in Canada. The proportion of females each year has risen, from 12.0% in the years between 1985 and 1997 to 24.9% of
adult positive HIV test reports between 1999 and 2002.
In 2005, this proportion increased to 25.4% and in 2006, it increased again, to 27.8%.
Among women, the primary exposure categories associated with newly diagnosed HIV infection are, consistently, heterosexual contact and injection drug use (IDU).
The proportion of positive HIV test reports in women attributed to heterosexual contact has increased over time, from 47.9% for the period 1985-2000 to a peak of 64.6% in 2003. In 2006, heterosexual contact accounted for 61.2% of positive test reports among women.
The proportion attributed to IDU varied between 31.1% and 37% between 2001 and 2006, increasing slightly over time over time.
Women accounted for 24.5% of all positive HIV test reports in Ontario in 2005. Women accounted for 14.1% of all positive HIV test reports between 1985 and 2005.
Heterosexual contact accounted for 80.4% of positive HIV test reports among women in 2005. This includes HIV diagnoses for women from countries with high rates of HIV infection (so-called ‘HIV-endemic’ countries). Injection drug use accounted for 13.2% of positive HIV tests.
Women accounted for 21.8% of positive HIV test reports in Toronto in 2005, down slightly from 24.6% in 2004.
Women from countries with high rates of HIV infection (so-called ‘HIV-endemic’ countries) accounted for 62.4% of all positive HIV test reports among women in Toronto in 2005.
Between 1985 – 2005, women accounted for 11.3% of all positive HIV test reports in Toronto.
Sources
1. Report on HIV/AIDS in Ontario 2005, Robert S. Remis, MD, University of Toronto, March 2007
2. HIV and AIDS in Canada: Surveillance Report to December 31, 2006
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