March 2017
There are two main challenges that women face: the biological differences that make women more vulnerable to HIV infection; and the gender norms and inequality that are unfortunately still part of many societies around the world. Female sexuality is still something that is ignored or even denied in many countries. Acknowledging women as sexual beings is very difficult for many male-dominated societies, especially when they also…
8 March 2017
There is a saying in South Africa: Wathint’ abafazi, wathint’ imbokodo. You strike the women, you strike the rock. On International Women’s Day, we want to celebrate the strong women who have always been at the heart of fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic. For more than 35 years, women have modeled strength and resilience as researchers, nurses and physicians, caregivers, volunteers, advocates, social workers, and community leaders…
9 March 2017
Before the gold standard in HIV treatment—called HAART, for “highly active antiretroviral therapy”—came along in the mid-90s, untreated people could expect to live about 10 years after they were infected by HIV. HAART, a combination of several HIV drugs, transformed HIV from a death sentence to a chronic, survivable condition, prolonging life by several decades. Within two years of becoming available, it lowered HIV mortality…
7 March 2017
The Namibia Football Association (NFA) is taking its popular development programme, Galz & Goals to the Oshana and Zambezi regions this month.
This will be done through their Football and Healthy Lifestyle Festivals. Galz & Goals combines football with life skills, HIV/AIDS and health education to create a platform through which adolescent girls can gain skills and knowledge by active participation and learn to…
6 March 2017
"People who are designing the studies, who are funding the studies, need to make [enrolling women] a priority." In an interview on behalf of IFARA at CROI 2017, Andy Kaytes spoke with Rena Patel, M.D., and Monica Gandhi, M.D., about HIV in women. Studies have shown that women taking certain forms of hormonal contraceptives have a higher risk of acquiring HIV than those who do not use such pregnancy prevention.
…2 March 2017
The World Health Organization issued an updated guidance statement on its recommendations for the use of hormonal contraception by women at high risk of HIV. The update changes the WHO classification of long-acting injectable contraceptives like DMPA (also known as Depo) and NET-EN. WHO states "there continues to be evidence of a possible increased risk of HIV among progestogen-only injectable users." Based on this possibility…
23 February 2017
The HIV situation in Uganda calls for renewed and urgent action. This is after a new study revealed that every single hour, 2 young women get infected with HIV in Uganda which puts the prevalence of HIV among adolescent girls at 9.1% compared to the national prevalence of 7.3%. This was highlighted at the end of a UNAIDS Global Review Mission to Uganda which held multi stakeholder consultations in Uganda.
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22 February 2017
Naina Khanna is the executive director of Positive Women's Network - USA (PWN-USA), a national organization that advocates for local, state, and federal policies and programs for women living with HIV. She was diagnosed with HIV in 2002 and has been working in the field since 2005. Roughly 1 in 4 people living with HIV in the United States are women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and African…
17 February 2017
Sexual violence plays a significant role in HIV infection and depression, according to ground-breaking research with women living in Rustenburg. The research, conducted by humanitarian organisation Medicins sans Frontieres (MSF), involved a sample of 800 women. “Opportunities are missed each day to prevent HIV infection, psychological trauma, and unwanted pregnancy for victims of sexual violence in on the platinum mining…
27 February 2017
"When I found out at 14 that I was HIV-positive, I didn't think I would live to see 18, I am turning 22 this year." Since Saidy Brown tweeted those words on Friday, thousands of people have re-shared her hopeful message, with many praising her courage for speaking publicly about her own experience with the virus.
Activist Saidy, who describes herself as an HIVictor in her Twitter bio, has been speaking to the BBC…
9 February 2017
Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania are among 13 African countries that will receive $55 million from the Global Fund to fight HIV/Aids, among adolescent girls and young women. Tanzania will get $8 million while Kenya and Uganda will receive $5 million each, leaving the rest to the other countries, namely Botswana, Cameroon, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
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21 February 2017
More than a 100 delegates from 12 eastern and southern Africa met in Windhoek from 1-3 February to discuss approaches and strategies on how best to reach adolescent girls and young women with HIV prevention in the context of sexual and reproductive health and rights.
The gathering came hot on the heels of a disturbing report that indicated that in 2014, nearly half of all adolescents living with HIV globally were living…
30 January 2017
Married for 17 years, Longok had no idea she was HIV positive until she heard rumors suggesting her husband was living with HIV and got herself tested. “I was so shocked because in my heart I knew that I have never cheated on my husband and he had found me a virgin when he married me at the age of 16,” says Mwatum Kitui Longok, a mother of six, from Moroto, a remote district located in Karamoja, north-eastern Uganda. …
20 February 2017
New analysis of data detailing the extent of sexual violence in the Rustenburg area, South Africa, indicates that one in five HIV infections (approximately 6,765 of all female cases) and one in three cases of depression among women (5,022 cases) are attributable to rape and intimate-partner violence (IPV), while one in three women inducing abortion (1,296 cases) was pregnant as a result of sexual violence.
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9 February 2017
Opinion Piece: Chances are very high that by this time next year if you are still alive, 26,000 girls will be living with HIV if we are to go by a report released by the Uganda Aids Commission a few days back. If this trend continues, by 2029, chances are high that your daughter or grand daughter may be among those living with HIV. On the other hand, your son, grandson or even your husband might be on the flip side of this…
8 February 2017
Thailand has become the first Asian country to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV, thanks to a pragmatic multi-sector response backed by strong political commitment and heavy government investment, a new study reports. Such an early, concerted response allowed the country to successfully address the four prongs of the recommended World Health Organization (WHO) elimination strategy. As a result, MTCT rates…
10 February 2017
A new project in Lesotho combines a mobile healthcare app, a mobile payment service and a fleet of traveling clinics to help HIV-positive women in remote areas get lifesaving medication and support. Less than a year after the launch of a project that uses mobile phone apps to help give HIV-positive women and children in two Lesotho districts better access to treatment, the initiative has proved so successful…
13 February 2017
A new HIV prevention measure, Dapivirine Ring, which has up to seventy-one per cent ability to protect users from contracting the virus has proved to be super-effective, according to preliminary research results by University of North Carolina (UNC) and John Hopkins. Speaking during a training workshop organized by journalists association against Aids (Journaids) at Bridge View Hotel in Lilongwe, UNC project study…
10 February 2017
Women initiated on anti-retroviral drugs based on how sick they are, are more likely to continue and adhere to treatment compared to those who are initiated bcause they are pregnant, a recent study on adherence of ARVs in pregnant woman has shown. Presenting study results in Harare yesterday, Clinton Health Access Initiative country director Mr Alexio Mangwiro said of the 1,150 women who took part in the study, 8,5 percent…
7 February 2017
South African women with pro-inflammatory bacteria that dominates vaginal microbiomes have more than a 4-fold higher risk of acquiring HIV than those with healthy vaginal bacteria, a recent study indicates. An estimated 24 million individuals in sub-Saharan Africa are infected with HIV. According to UNAIDS, young African women have up to an 8-fold higher rate of HIV prevalence compared with young men.
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