In Women, Drug Use, and HIV Infection, you'll see why AIDS is the fourth leading cause of death among women of childbearing age, and you'll come to understand why it disproportionately affects minority women, many of whom are poor, addicted to drugs, and/or the sexual partners of drug users. You'll gain instantaneous access to the data collected by a national, multi-site Cooperative Agreement funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The quantitative and qualitative studies contained in this publication will familiarize you with the lives of women especially susceptible to HIV infection. You'll also discover descriptions of prevention strategies that will lower the risk of infection in this high-risk population of women. In Women, Drug Use, and HIV Infection, at least two chapters focus on each main topic, giving you a deeper, multilayered look at each issue. Even after a few chapters, you'll find that your understanding of this national societal illness will expand tremendously in these and other areas: cultural contexts of various geographical areas of the United States perceptions of HIV risk among the women who use drugs the difference in risk behaviors of drug-using women in cities of different sizes with different rates of HIV seroprevelance how past and current domestic violence changes the HIV risk behavior of women who are sexual partners of drug users how the trading of sex for drugs and/or money is critical in tracking HIV risk behavior in women Women, Drug Use, and HIV Infection takes its data from a wide variety of U.S. locations and from a wide variety of women and organizes it in a way that you can understand, process, and ultimately turn toward transformative action in your rural or urban area of the country. You'll get the latest in outreach and intervention efforts, and you'll find yourself with more and more recommendations for future prevention.