National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day 2026
Make confidential HIV testing, prevention, treatment, perinatal care, and long-term support routine across the lifespan.
Women’s HIV care works when it is routine, not exceptional.
The HHS Office on Women’s Health, citing CDC data, reports that about 1.2 million people in the United States are living with HIV and that 263,900 of them are women. Women meet the health system across many settings: primary care, obstetrics and gynecology, family planning, emergency care, behavioral health, and community clinics. Each is a place where HIV testing, prevention, and care can either be routine or be missed.
Testing is the first gate. HIV.gov reports that about 13 percent of people in the United States who have HIV do not know it. For women, testing is often tied to pregnancy or to a specific concern, rather than offered as a normal part of care. Making testing confidential, routine, and easy to accept in every relevant setting removes the need for a woman to ask for it.
Prevention depends on whether women are offered it. Women who could benefit from PrEP may not hear about it unless prevention is built into the services they already use. Health systems can change that by building prevention conversations and prescribing workflows into women’s health, primary care, and sexual and reproductive health services, with pharmacy and coverage support behind them.
Treatment and perinatal care require continuity. Women living with HIV need rapid linkage after diagnosis, sustained treatment, and coordinated care during pregnancy, delivery, and the postpartum period. Those transitions are where people most often fall out of care, especially when obstetric, infectious disease, and pediatric teams do not share one plan.
The Office on Women’s Health frames the 21st National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, March 10, 2026, around the theme “Prevention, Care, and Confidence: Supporting Women’s HIV Health,” a woman-centered approach across the lifespan. For health-system leaders, that means making confidential testing, prevention, treatment, perinatal care, and long-term support routine, measurable, and free of stigma.
Set a local standard for routine, confidential HIV testing in women’s health, primary care, and emergency settings, and review testing, PrEP offers, and linkage to care monthly.
The HHS Office on Women’s Health, citing CDC data, reports that of the 1.2 million people in the U.S. living with HIV, 263,900 are women.
HIV.gov reports that about 13 percent of people in the United States who have HIV do not know it.
CDC reports that in 2022, women reporting heterosexual contact accounted for 15 percent (5,835) of new HIV diagnoses in the United States and dependent areas.
Figures are summarized from the authoritative sources linked below. Definitions and denominators should be read with each source.
The route from testing to lifelong support
Four steps make HIV prevention and care routine for women and girls.
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Test confidentially
Offer confidential HIV testing as a routine part of care in women’s health, primary care, emergency, and behavioral health settings.
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Prevent with PrEP
Build prevention conversations, PrEP prescribing, and coverage support into services women already use.
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Link and treat
Connect every woman with a new diagnosis to HIV care quickly and support her in staying on treatment.
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Coordinate across life
Keep one plan across pregnancy, postpartum care, aging, and changes in coverage or location.
Reliability rule: No positive HIV test result is closed until the woman has a confirmed first HIV care visit or a documented outreach plan.
What leaders should watch
Four instruments show whether testing, prevention, and care are routine.
Routine testing
Track how often women are offered and receive HIV testing in relevant settings.
Prevention reach
See whether women who could benefit are offered PrEP and start it.
Linkage to care
Monitor how quickly women with a new diagnosis reach HIV care.
Perinatal continuity
Check that pregnant and postpartum women with HIV remain connected to coordinated care.
Handoffs that protect confidentiality and continuity
Women are most often lost at handoffs, so each one needs a defined package.
From testing site to HIV care
- Deliver results confidentially and in the woman’s preferred language.
- Schedule the first HIV care visit before the conversation ends when possible.
- Name a navigator or contact who will follow up.
From HIV care to obstetric care
- Share the treatment plan and relevant results with the obstetric team.
- Agree on who coordinates care during pregnancy and delivery.
- Plan postpartum and infant follow-up with pediatric teams.
From postpartum care back to long-term HIV care
- Confirm the next HIV care appointment before discharge.
- Address coverage, childcare, and transportation needs that could interrupt care.
- Connect the woman with community and peer support services.
A handoff is complete when the receiving team confirms the woman is scheduled and knows who to contact, not when a referral is sent.
A quarterly scorecard for women’s HIV health
Four questions keep leadership attention on testing, prevention, linkage, and continuity.
| Signal | Executive question | Accountable owner | Review cadence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Testing | Are women routinely offered confidential HIV testing in every relevant setting? | Primary care, women’s health, and emergency leaders | Monthly |
| Prevention | Are women who could benefit offered PrEP and supported to start it? | Women’s health, infectious disease, and pharmacy leaders | Quarterly |
| Linkage | Do women with a new diagnosis reach HIV care within our local target? | Infectious disease and care navigation leaders | Monthly |
| Equity | Do testing, PrEP, and linkage differ by race, ethnicity, age, language, payer, or geography? | Health equity and analytics leaders | Quarterly |
A 90-day plan
Use National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day to launch one measurable improvement cycle.
Choose one or two settings where women receive routine care. Measure current testing offers, PrEP offers, and linkage before changing anything. Build testing and prevention into standard workflows rather than relying on individual initiative. Protect confidentiality at every step, and review results with community partners.
Days 1–30: See the gaps
- Map how HIV testing, PrEP, and linkage currently work in the chosen settings.
- Establish baselines for testing offers, PrEP offers, and days to first HIV care visit.
- Ask women and community partners what makes testing and care hard to accept.
Days 31–60: Make it routine
- Build confidential testing offers and PrEP prompts into standard visit workflows.
- Assign navigation for every new diagnosis.
- Agree on shared care planning between HIV and obstetric teams.
Days 61–90: Sustain and report
- Review measures with clinic leaders and community partners.
- Stratify results by equity dimensions and assign owners for gaps.
- Publish a short progress summary to executive leadership.
Confidence grows when care is routine.
National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is a reminder that women and girls need confidential testing, prevention, treatment, perinatal care, and long-term support that work across the lifespan. Each of those can be measured and made routine.
Turn National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day into accountable action.
Make confidential HIV testing, prevention, treatment, perinatal care, and long-term support routine across the lifespan.
Leadership focus
Make confidential HIV testing, prevention, treatment, perinatal care, and long-term support routine for women and girls across the lifespan.
Workforce lens
Equip women’s health, primary care, and emergency teams with routine testing workflows, PrEP prompts, and clear navigation routes for new diagnoses.
Patient and community lens
Make sure women know testing is confidential and routine, that prevention options exist, and who to contact for care and support.
Equity and access lens
Stratify testing, PrEP, and linkage by race, ethnicity, age, language, payer, and geography, and act on the gaps with community partners.
Inspect the operating sequence
Women’s HIV prevention and care depend on routine, confidential testing and reliable connections between services. This quarter we will measure testing offers, PrEP offers, and linkage to care in our women’s health and primary care settings.
- 01Test confidentially
- 02Prevent with PrEP
- 03Link and treat
- 04Coordinate across life
Leadership actions for this week
- Name an executive sponsor and frontline operating owner.
- Ask people using and operating the pathway where ownership becomes unclear.
- Test one representative route from first question to acknowledged next step.
- Select one barrier that can be corrected without overstating the evidence.
- Set a review date and define how completion will be verified.
Candidate measures
Define every numerator, denominator where relevant, owner, data source, exclusions, cadence, and limitation locally. These are management prompts, not external benchmarks.
- Share of eligible women’s health and primary care patients with a documented HIV test offer
- Number of women offered PrEP and share who start, by clinic
- Median days from positive test to first HIV care visit
Department readiness checklist
- The public and staff entry points match the actual approved process.
- A specific role accepts each request, referral, or escalation.
- Handoffs include acknowledgment and a visible unresolved state.
- Language, disability, digital, transportation, and trust barriers receive explicit review.
- Communications do not introduce unsupported themes, statistics, or clinical advice.
- A named leader will review what changed after the observance.
Intended audiences
- Executive and Operational Leaders
- Public Health and Community Partners
Staff communication template
During National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, our organization will review how routinely we offer confidential HIV testing and prevention to women. Please use the testing and PrEP prompts in your workflow and connect every new diagnosis to navigation.
Community communication template
March 10 is National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, a time to recognize the impact of HIV on women and girls. Confidential HIV testing, prevention, and care are available, and your healthcare provider can talk with you about them.
Measurement worksheet
- Signal
- What observable condition will show whether the route works?
- Definition
- What is included, excluded, and counted?
- Owner
- Who reviews the signal and acts on exceptions?
- Cadence
- When will leaders review it?
- Equity check
- Which differences require protected, locally appropriate review?
- Closure
- What evidence will confirm the improvement was completed?
Authoritative resources
- NWGHAAD 2026 Theme, HHS Office on Women’s Health
- National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, HHS Office on Women’s Health
- National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, HIV.gov
- Fast Facts: HIV in the United States, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Verification note: The HHS Office on Women’s Health confirms March 10 as the 21st National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day and states the 2026 theme, “Prevention, Care, and Confidence: Supporting Women’s HIV Health.” HIV.gov’s awareness day page, reviewed for this brief, lists a different 2026 theme, “Reset Your Routine: Embracing HIV testing, prevention, and care as part of your health journey”; this brief follows the Office on Women’s Health.