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Spectrum

Publication Date

11-1-2015

Abstract

While studies have shown that HIV infections are increasing in Muslim countries, especially among the young population (Abu-Moghli et al. 2010), the prevalence of HIV infection among young Muslims in the United States is poorly understood. The United States has a Muslim population of 6.67 million and it is increasing every year. However, the CDC and other public health organizations do not include religious identification as a social category for which to gather statistics on risk behaviors and infection rates. Instead, health organizations disaggregate data on infection rates according to categories such as race, ethnicity, sex, social economic status, and transmission methods such as heterosexual contact, men who have sex with men (MSM) and drug injectors. This study (funded in part by the McNair Scholars Program) aimed to explore where young Muslim women and non-Muslim women in U.S. universities 17 obtain knowledge about sexually transmitted infections (STIs), namely HIV. Understanding how young Muslim women obtain information about HIV/AIDS will help to identify where to focus educational campaigns, and thus take an important step towards mitigating disease risks among this growing population.

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