FIGURE 9-1 AIDS case rates in New York City, by zip code, as of April 1989.

SOURCE: Data from New York City Department of Health (1990a,b,c,d,e).

with HIV—a citywide seropositivity rate of 1.24 percent (Novick et al., 1991); see Table 9-2. This proportion has not changed substantially since testing of infants began, indicating there have not been rapid increases in seropositivity among women who are having children. This seroprevalence measure does not estimate the rates of HIV infection among all women of childbearing age: it excludes women who are not having children because of contraceptive use, infertility, celibacy, or spontaneous or induced abortion.

These data for childbearing women show a pattern similar to the AIDS data for women. Rates are high among African American (2.21 percent positive) and Hispanic women (1.41 percent positive) and particularly high for women aged 25 to 34. However, the rates vary substantially for both African American and Hispanic women by borough of the city; again, the highest rates are found in Manhattan and the Bronx. Since there is evidence of higher rates of sexually transmitted diseases among African American women than other women, there may be some consequent reduction in