12 July 2017
At the London Family Planning Summit's Spotlight Session on 'Transitions to Adulthood and the Importance of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights to Girls' Empowerment' Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Women's Executive Director, spoke of the high rates of new HIV infections, gender-based violence and childbirth complications young women and girls face. She stressed the need for scaling comprehensive sexuality education which…
11 July 2017
South Africa's leading advocate for people living with HIV and AIDS and a respected gender activist, Prudence Nobantu Mabel, has died. Mabel was the President for the Society for Women and Aids in Africa, the Founder and Executive Director of the Positive Women's Network and Deputy chair of the South African National AIDS Council.
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10 July 2017
The Mahe Declaration, adopted by parliament members of 14 Southern African Development Community (SADC) Parliamentary Forum countries, commits to addressing root causes of HIV among women and young girls by reducing poverty and ensuring access to quality health services and information. Participants of the forum also recommended that women and girls have access to education, ending child marriage practices and protecting those…
10 July 2017
Global HIV leaders have committed to ensuring young people affected by HIV/AIDS play an integral part in shaping new research and policies to strengthen HIV prevention, testing and treatment in sub-Saharan Africa. The agreement was made during a special roundtable organised by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, the charity Sentebale and its Co-Founding Patron Prince Harry. The Prince met researchers working…
28 June 2017
A qualitative study of 39 Malawian women who had started antiretroviral treatment during pregnancy or breastfeeding found that 25 of them had dropped out of treatment. Lack of social support after diagnosis and inadequate counselling about HIV treatment and disclosure were identified as key reasons for dropping out of treatment after starting. The study also notes a lack of evidence from the women's perspective on barriers to…
30 June 2017
AIDS related illness remains the leading cause of death for women of reproductive age in Kenya. According to UNAIDS, intimate partner violence has been identified as one of the key drivers of HIV transmission, particularly in rural areas. To better address the impact of HIV on young women and adolescent girls, the government requires better programming integrating sexual and reproductive health and rights, HIV services…
30 June 2017
Civil Society Organisations, United Nations agencies and other partners are working with the South African Development Community (SADC) Parliamentary Forum to hold the first ever Women’s Parliament in Seychelles next week on 5-6 July 2017. The meeting will bring together SADC women members of parliament and their worldwide counterparts to critically discuss and sustain the engagement of parliaments to implement the United…
22 June 2017
A workshop conducted in Kathmandu, Nepal with development agencies, government and civil society focused on the importance of comprehensive sexuality education in schools to provide students with information about gender roles, reproductive health, HIV, adolescent pregnancy and gender equality. Comprehensive sexuality education goes beyond anatomy and physiology of sex, including education around relationships, values,…
24 June 2017
At the first Sexual and Reproductive Health Conference of the Barbados Family Planning Association (BFPA), Dr. St John stressed the importance of improving sexual and reproductive health and rights to address the countries' high sexually transmitted infection rates, prevent and treat HIV and promote gender equality and opportunities for young people.
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22 June 2017
Musicians Raheem DeVaugn and Goapele joined forces with AIDS Healthcare Foundation and Chicago-based South Side Help Center (SSHC) to present "RISE Above," an awareness program and HIV campaign to end stigma around HIV, educate and empower women and girls. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1 in 4 individuals living with HIV in the United States are women. African American and Hispanic women are…
16 June 2017
Sexual and reproductive health are often not included in national school curricula. In some African countries with HIV awareness or life skills programs, teachers are frequently unwilling to teach these subjects due to constraints on teaching time and resources or because of the sexual and reproductive health content.
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26 June 2017
The project, led by the Journalist Association Against AIDS (JournAIDS), works in communities of Dowa district to raise awareness on preventing mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV. This is done through PMTCT Media workshops engaging men and women, strengthening the Option B+ approach, involving traditional and religious leaders to support PMTCT and advocating for equitable service delivery.
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25 June 2017
South Africa's AIDS Conference in Durban focused on empowering youth, particularly adolescent girls and young women. Hilary Thulare, from the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), shared that one of the top issues identified by youth is the lack of approachable resources with non-judgmental staff. According to Thulare, establishing better communication with youth can change attitudes and motivate them towards responsible sexual…
19 June 2017
According to India's National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 2016, only 14.7% of women in rural Rajasthan, India have a comprehensive knowledge of HIV and AIDS. A high migratory population in the state makes Rajasthan vulnerable to HIV and AIDS. But a matter of even more serious concern is the low percentage of women with comprehensive knowledge of HIV and AIDS.
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19 June 2017
The National Youth Council of Malawi (NYCOM) together with the Youth and Health Ministries will host a National Symposium in Lilongwe this month focusing on issues of HIV/AIDS and Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR). The symposium aims to bring together key players in implementing programs around adolescents as well as reviewing coordination mechanism and programming gaps of adolescent and youth-targeted HIV/AIDS and…
19 June 2017
In Uganda, 575 adolescent girls and young women (ages 15-24) get infected with HIV on a weekly basis. To address factors leading to the vulnerability of infection for adolescent girls and young women, The International Community of Women Living with HIV in Eastern Africa (ICWEA) and its partners have embarked on training young women in practical skills for economic empowerment and negotiation abilities to prevent HIV…
19 June 2017
Professors and epidemiologists Salim and Quarraisha Abdool Karim visited the Chatsworth Regional Office. Prof. Quarraisha Abdool Karim explained that reducing HIV in young women is the only answer to downtrend the epidemic. "Biomedical interventions alone cannot solve this challenge but gender, power and value of women must be given priority," she said.
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12 June 2017
Caprisa's director, Dr. Salim Abdool Karim, says now women can protect themselves against HIV by using a drug called Truvada. According to Dr. Karim, the incidence rate for HIV continues to be unacceptably high, particularly among young women as they bear the brunt of the HIV epidemic and continue to have the highest rate of HIV in South Africa.
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6 June 2017
Delroy Chuck, Jamaica's Minister of Justice, stated that treating HIV and AIDS as solely a health issue is the biggest mistake. According to the Minister, HIV and AIDS cannot be addressed without confronting institutionalised discrimination of women, gender-based violence, poverty, social exclusion and inequality.
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13 June 2017
Over 6,000 adolescent girls in Zimbabwe have benefited from the DREAMS initiative, funded by USAID and coordinated by the National AIDS Council. The DREAMS director, Masimba Nyamuchena, reported that 30% of young women in urban Gweru, Mutare and Bulawayo were retained in employment to date, after completing a six-month internship under the DREAMS initiative. Family planning uptake has also improved among adolescent girls and…