News

Gender inequalities and gender-based violence, combined with physiological factors, and restrictive laws around access to sexual and reproductive health services place women and girls in the region at high risk of HIV infection.

In KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa where girls are disproportionately affected by HIV, nurse Felicity Basson works with the DREAMS programme to provide girls with knowledge, support and information about their rights and services in order to prevent and manage HIV infections.

In Tanzania, a joint programme with the Ministry of Health, civil society organizations and the Global Fund is being piloted to combat HIV among adolescent girls and young women in the regions of Singida, Dodoma and Morogoro.

A study in Canada found that indigenous women living with HIV experience every day incidents of racism that impede their access to care disproportionately to other groups.

A study in the U.S. found that women living with HIV perceive many forms of stigma in addition to HIV-related stigma, such as stigma related to gender, race and poverty.

Women living with HIV in Ghana who serve as paralegals in their communities shared their concerns about the stigmatization women face due to HIV.

An event held during the European Union Development Days (EDD) discussed the importance of young women's participation in decision-making processes, education and access to health care to prevent new infections.

In this feature, Sylvia, a community health educator in South Africa, discusses experiences women affected by HIV face including: lack of knowledge about the virus and their rights and gender-based violence.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation Nigeria emphasized the need to create safe spaces allowing young women to express psycho-social issues they face around HIV, such as low confidence and inability to negotiate safer sex.

During an advocacy session with the state government, women living with HIV presented their needs for income generating activities and schooling for adolescents living with HIV.

A qualitative study among pregnant women in South Africa found many interviewees reported feeling they did not have a say in negotiating condom use and were unable to ask their partner of their HIV status.

Though HIV rates continue to decrease in Uganda, it is still significantly more prevalent among women than men. The reasons behind this disparity are complex, but largely boil down to different forms of gender inequality.

A forum in Rwanda focused on the importance of engaging youth to design new innovative solutions to tackle the HIV epidemic and provide access to sexual and reproductive health information and services.

Adequate HIV knowledge, prevention, treatment and care services for women in the US criminal justice system is critical, as they are are disproportionately affected by HIV compared to the general population.

The Community Rights and Gender Meeting hosted in Ghana focused on adopting innovative approaches to end HIV and AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Discussions focused around human rights and developing gender-responsive instruments to reduce HIV among adolescent girls and young women.

Allison Carter, a health sciences researcher, is launching a new feminist, sex-positive website and social media project that aims to normalize sex and reduce stigma and fear for women living with HIV. Her research comes from a cohort study which indicated that over 80% of women living with HIV in Canada have experienced some form of violence.

Ms. Mnangagwa signed the Declaration and stressed the importance of health education, appropriate information for behaviour change and use of prevention services for HIV and tuberculosis.

University of Waterloo researchers are working on a new way to prevent women from becoming infected with HIV. Due to socio-cultural factors, they are often unable to negotiate condom usage. The team is looking at long-term methods to protect women from infection.

‘Invisible No Longer’, the latest report from Terrence Higgins Trust and the Sophia Forum, has shed a light on a number of issues that impact women living with HIV in the UK - particularly violence.

Based in Jamaica, Eve for Life is a non-governmental organization which provides psycho-social support and improving sexual and reproductive health and rights for women and girls living with or affected by HIV.