WHY TALK ABOUT HIV IN RELATION TO SEXUAL VIOLENCE?

• Women in relationships with violence have four times the risk for contracting STIs, including HIV, than women in relationships without violence
• Wome who had ever experienced forced sex were more likely to report HIV risk behaviours but less likely to have been tested for HIV despite greater perceived liklihood of having HIV than non-abused women
• Relationship violence and trauma history can compromise the health and prevention practices of women living with HIV. Recently abusded women have more than 4 times the rate of antiretroviral therapy failure, and of not practicing safe sex, as women who have not experienced abuse recently