Cisgender women, transgender men, and all people assigned female at birth continue to be affected by HIV, both nationally and globally. In 2019, 6,897 HIV infections were diagnosed among cisgender women, and 46 were diagnosed among transgender men, with significant disparities by race. Among people assigned female at birth who have HIV, those who identify as Black or African American are disproportionately affected.
HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is an important tool to prevent new HIV infections but remains underutilized. For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that only 10% of cisgender women who could benefit from PrEP were prescribed it in 2019. Similarly, in one national survey of 157 transgender men, 51% were eligible for PrEP, but only 26% had received a prescription for it. In this publication, we describe the evidence for PrEP among people assigned female at birth and strategies to improve PrEP uptake for these populations, with a focus on Black cisgender women.
