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Women who have been medical (and political) subjects of HIV/AIDS also have much to teach us during our current pandemic. Historically, women have been at the forefront of fighting to keep communities and families healthy.

As we celebrated International Women’s Day and applauded the many successes that women have,   and continue to achieve globally, we are also reminded of the many challenges that remain. HIV/AIDS   continues to be one such challenge.

The Department of Health will investigate allegations that women living with HIV were coerced to undergo involuntary sterilisation. Last month, the Commission for Gender Equality released a report on the practice after an investigation that was prompted by a complaint it received in 2015.

Between 1995 and 2018, the steepest decrease in new HIV infections among women occurred among adolescent girls and young women (aged 15 to 24 years)—a decline of 44% globally.

The HIV/Aids epidemic has always been far more than a health issue. The virus thrives on inequality, insecurity, stigma and discrimination, marginalisation, criminalisation and exclusion.

As the world commemorates 2020 International Women’s Day (IWD), AIDS Health Care Foundation (AHF), a Non-Governmental Organisation, has called for the elimination of Mother-To-Child Transmission (MTCT) of HIV and AIDS in Nigeria.

The bad news about HIV, as Winnie Byanyima sums up plainly, is that it “sits on top of socio-economic injustices”. The UNAIDS Executive Director was speaking at the launch of the report “We’ve Got The Power – women, adolescent girls and the HIV response”.

For many young women and girls, making safe and informed choices, which could limit their exposure to HIV, is no simple task. A young woman in poverty may be forced to exchange sex for favours, or to accept a marriage proposal from an older man.

Gender discrimination and violence, gaps in education and lack of economic empowerment and protection of sexual and reproductive health and rights are blocking progress.

Gloria Nawanyaga says being discriminated for living with HIV is much worse than the disease itself. “I have suffered discrimination and I know that it can be more lethal than the virus.”

People who use drugs are often highly stigmatized and face high levels of discrimination. Women who use drugs, however, are doubly stigmatized and discriminated against—because of their drug use and because of their gender.

Women need men to be more interested in learning their HIV status. Research has also shown that women take their antiretroviral medication in a timely manner.

As the Executive Director of UNAIDS, I lead the work of the United Nations to tackle AIDS. I’m also someone who has lost family members to AIDS. This is personal.

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) prescribing practices in the United States do not align with current national guidelines for approximately half of pregnant women with HIV, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open.

7 February 2020 UNAIDS and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have joined forces to increase action against cervical cancer and HIV. In a memorandum of understanding signed following an event to mark World Cancer Day at the headquarters of IAEA in Vienna, Austria, the two organizations pledged to scale up and expand services for adolescent girls and women affected by the two diseases. Read the full article here

State hospitals in South Africa have sterilized some pregnant HIV-Positive  women without their consent, according to an investigation by the government’s Commission for Gender Equality.

A new report says the unpaid work of women has created a wealth gap that is causing a crisis in economic development and hampering economic growth.

I  am Generation Equality because… I grew up in a community where HIV stigma was high, and I saw the effects firsthand. HIV information and services were not available, and I saw many of my friends and family members succumb to AIDS. 

Restricted social autonomy of women can reduce their ability to access sexual health and HIV services. Less-educated women may be less knowledgeable about risks and therefore, more prone to adopt risky behaviours.

The arrival in 2012 of a daily pill to prevent HIV infection was widely hailed as a breakthrough that could drive new infections worldwide to very low levels. Eight years later, it is having a strong impact in some places and little or none in others.