FOUND 649

The Technical Review Panel is an independent group of international experts convened by the Global Fund to play an essential role in assessing funding requests received from countries for technical soundness and strategic focus. The closing date for the application s Noon (GMT) on Wednesday 31July 2013. For more information on how to apply, please visit: http://www.…

A multidisciplinary team of researchers from UCLA and India has found that a new type of intervention program, in which lay women in the rural Indian province of Andra Pradesh were trained as social health activists to assist women who have HIV/AIDS, significantly improved patients' adherence to antiretroviral therapy and boosted their immune-cell counts and nutrition levels. Read full article here.

One-in-four pregnancy-related deaths is due to HIV in countries with a high HIV prevalence, a meta-analysis of 23 studies shows. HIV-infected women have eight times the risk of a pregnancy-related death compared to uninfected women (pooled relative risk [RR]: 7.75, 95% CI: 5.37-11.16), according to results from the meta-analysis published in the advance online edition of AIDS. Read full article here.

Nearly 10 million people living with HIV were accessing antiretroviral treatment last year, says a new United Nations report, which notes that even more people can be reached with smart planning. Last year's figure represents the biggest increase from one year to another as numbers of people accessing antiretroviral treatment rose by 1.6 million from 2011 to 2012, according to the report, released today by the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS…

Battling HIV-AIDS is a full time job for a British Columbia woman who's had the disease for more than 25 years and struggles to find care in a province with "seriously inadequate" health-care resources for women living with the illness.
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Enrollment of women in clinical trials of new anti-HIV drugs is extremely low, representing only about 15% of all treatment-experienced patients. For women of color it is even lower. Why women, and especially women of color...
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In Uganda and some African countries, the situation is frustrating and puzzling. Women seek health care services more than men, yet men are more willing to participate in trials?
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The disease is a manageable condition thanks to medical advancements. But its psychological aspects can be far more destructive, writes Deirdre Cashion.
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Ugandan women who have been subject to violence from a sexual partner are more likely than other women to go on to acquire HIV, according to a large, longitudinal study from the Rakai cohort, published in the May 15 issue of AIDS. Women who had experienced more severe forms of violence, more frequently, or over a longer period of time had greater risks of HIV infection.

Though sterilization can be an effective family planning option for many women, when performed without their prior and full informed consent, it is a serious violation of women’s human rights, specifically their sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).
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Some Women Living with HIV in the Brong-Ahafo Region have appealed to the Ghana Pharmaceutical Association to end their strike action to enable them have access to Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) drugs. They said the strike by the pharmacists was a threat to their lives as they supplied the ARTs, which they needed for their survival.
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You know her best as a multi-platinum recording artist and a 14-time Grammy award-winning singer, songwriter and producer.   But Alicia Keys has also made quite a name for herself as a philanthropist and AIDS advocate.   Read full article here.

Human rights and press freedom are crucial if China is to achieve its stated AIDS prevention goals, particularly when it comes to safeguarding women and children, a leading AIDS specialist has said.  According to U.S.-based dissident doctor Wan Yanhai, AIDS prevention is intimately bound up with human rights and the empowerment of women, and China is no exception.  Read full article…
In a bid to stem the rising mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS in Semarang municipality, Central Java, the local administration will enlist the help of midwives. According to chairman of the municipal branch of the Indonesian Family Planning Association (PKBI), Dwi Yoga Yulianto, midwives play a vital role in preventing mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV. Read full article…

The link between gender-based violence and HIV infections needs to be explicit in the outcome document of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), delegates said this week. Read full article here

Researchers have developed a female condom which they claim can protect against pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV by dissolving inside the body and releasing chemicals. Read full article here.

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 11 2012 (IPS) - Global efforts to reach the “three zeros” for women and girls – zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths – are gaining momentum. Much of the progress we have seen is underpinned by the work of women living with HIV. Read full article here.

The Yemeni Women’s Union, in cooperation with the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, held a workshop Tuesday about gender and women living with HIV. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) funded the workshop. Read full article here.

In August 2012, the African Gender and Media Initiative, a Kenyan NGO, released a report documenting cases of forced and coerced sterilizations of HIV-positive women, carried out by both private and government-run health facilities. Read full article here.

Tomorrow is World AIDS Day and this year all the talk is of tipping points and “ending AIDS.” Read full article here.