Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Sep 17:76:51.
doi: 10.1186/s13690-018-0299-8. eCollection 2018.

Gender disparity in epidemiological trend of HIV/AIDS infection and treatment in Ethiopia

Tadele Girum  1 , Abebaw Wasie  1 , Kifle Lentiro  1 , Ebrahim Muktar  1 , Teha Shumbej  2 , Mesfin Difer  3 , Mulugeta Shegaze  4 , Abdulsemed Worku  5
Affiliations

Gender disparity in epidemiological trend of HIV/AIDS infection and treatment in Ethiopia

Tadele Girum et al. Arch Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: The HIV/AIDS epidemic has been fuelled by gender inequality and disparity resulted in violation of women reproductive right. The "feminization" of the pandemic is more apparent in Sub-Saharan Africa where the larger numbers of HIV infected people are living. Although they carry the higher proportion of HIV cases; access to care and treatment is lower among women. In Ethiopia where HIV is prevalent and gender violence is common, the disparity may be higher. Therefore, this research aimed to assesses trends in gender disparity in the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Ethiopia to bring evidence for action.

Methods: This study was conducted using aggregates of HIV/AIDS indicator data from 1990 to 2016 of UNAIDS data bases. The data was compiled and analyzed with excel and STATA Version 11. The trend was assessed, gender difference was measured and rate of change was compared between genders and specific age groups.

Result: Adult females (age 15+) accounted 61.5% of the HIV cases and new infection among adults. While, adolescent females (age 10-19) and young women (age 15-24) accounted 52.3 and 57.5% of prevalent cases and 74 and 68% of new infection in their age category respectively. HIV is 1.62 times more prevalent among adult women than men. Since 1990, HIV cases among adults has risen markedly in the first decade with 24 and 20%, then declined by 41.5% in the second decade and rose again by 5 and 8.7% among women and men respectively. The overall prevalence is declined by 72.4 and 71.5% from the maximum record. Women and men have equal access for ART; 62% of men and 61% of women from all adults living with HIV were on ART. While 61% of deaths were among adult women and the death rate is similar among adolescent women and men. AIDS- related death has been declined by 76% from the maximum record.

Conclusion: HIV/AIDS prevalence, new infection and AIDS-related death are by far higher among adult women than men. While the coverage of treatment and HIV care is equal among both genders. Vulnerable age groups (adolescent females and young women) take the lion's share of the new infections and prevalent cases. Therefore due attention is needed to avert gender disparity with a particular emphasis for adolescents and young women.

Keywords: Antiretroviral therapy; Gender disparity; HIV/AIDS and gender; Trend of HIV.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Not applicableNot applicableThe authors declare that they have no competing interests.Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Number of HIV prevalent (a) and incident (b) cases by sex among adults of Ethiopia, 1990–2016
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Number of HIV prevalent cases by age and sex among adults (a), adolescents (b) and young ages (c) of Ethiopia, 1990–2016
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Prevalence of HIV infection by sex among adults of Ethiopia, 1990–2016
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Number of new HIV infections by age and sex among adults (a), adolescents (b) and young ages (c) of Ethiopia, 1990–2016
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
People living with HIV receiving ART: number of people receiving ART (a) and Coverage of ART (b) by sex among adults of Ethiopia, 2010–2016
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Number of AIDS related death in thousands by sex among adults of Ethiopia, 1990–2016
Fig. 7
Fig. 7
Number of AIDS related death by age and sex among adults (a), adolescents (b) and young ages (c) of Ethiopia, 1990–2016
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. UNAIDS. Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). Geneva: UNAIDS Data; 2017.
    1. Wang H, Wolock TM, Carter A, Nguyen G, Kyu HH, Gakidou E, et al. Estimates of global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and mortality of HIV, 1980–2015: the global burden of disease study 2015. Lancet HIV. 2016;3(8):e361–e387. doi: 10.1016/S2352-3018(16)30087-X. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. UNAIDS. “Gender every minute.” UNAIDS infographics. 2012. Retrieved May 15, 2017. <www.unaids.org/en/resources/infographics/20120608gendereveryminute>.
    1. Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Ending AIDS progress towards the 90–90–90 targets. Geneva: Global aids update; 2017.
    1. Ethiopian public health institute. HIV Related Estimates and Projections for Ethiopia–2017. Addis Ababa: EPHI; 2017.