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The aim of the present study was to assess the level of self-esteem and Hope among HIV positive Adolescents across gender. The researcher considered perinatally infected Adolescent boys and girls who are HIV Positive, currently living in a HIV care and support centre.
On Zero Discrimination Day this year, UNAIDS is challenging the discrimination faced by women and girls in all their diversity in order to raise awareness and mobilize action to promote equality and empowerment for women and girls.
Across the world, gender inequality, violence, poverty and insecurity continue to stoke excessive HIV risk among women and girls, especially those in marginalized and excluded communities.
Intimate partner violence (IPV) undermines women’s uptake of HIV services and violates their human rights. In a two-arm randomized controlled trial we evaluated a short intervention that went a step beyond IPV screening to discuss violence and power with women receiving HIV testing services during antenatal care (ANC).
Epidemics of HIV and HPV are inherently interconnected, and when they meet in the context of weak health systems, their effects serve to amplify each other. Both HIV and cervical cancer present significant public health threats to women in sub-Saharan Africa. But while the threat of HIV is well documented, and the mass mobilisation of resources to treat HIV, unprecedented, cervical cancer is a relatively new and developing challenge for the…
The latest update from PEPFAR shares many successes from their Global Results, including their DREAMS program to prevent HIV infection among adolescent girls and young women. The update reported a 25-40% decline in new HIV diagnoses among adolescent girls and young women through the DREAMS program. In the 10 African countries (63 districts) implementing the programs, the majority (65% or 41) of the highest HIV-burden districts achieved a decline…
This study aims to move beyond ‘relative age gaps’ to address how much ‘specific age groups’ contribute to HIV risk in men and women in South Africa. To do so, a population-based cohort study from 2004-2015 in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa was analyzed. The study included women 15-49 years and men 15-55 years. This study found non-linear associations between partner age and risk of HIV infection among men and women. The…
National Strategic Plans (NSPs) for HIV/AIDS are country planning documents that set priorities for programmes and services, including a set of targets to quantify progress toward national and international goals. The inclusion of sex-disaggregated targets and targets to combat gender inequality is important given the high disease burden among young women and adolescent girls in Sub-Saharan Africa, yet no comprehensive gender-focused analysis of…
This publication provides a framework on women's rights, in the context of Africa. It goes on to conceptualize rights on equality between women and men, gender, intersectionality and multiple forms of discrimination, and more. The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol) is positioned in the current context, including HIV in the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights…
Friends may be an important influence for young women's risk of HIV infection as they serve as a medium to discuss norms about gender and sexuality and are a social network through which young women form sexual partnerships. In 2011, young women participating in a Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) trial in South Africa were asked about their friendships in detail. Results showed that friends' characteristics were linked to: a young woman's…
Between 2010 and 2013, with support from the Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada, UN Women implemented a regional programme, "Action to Promote the Legal Empowerment of Women in the Context of HIV," to increase women's access to property and inheritance rights in nine sub-Saharan Africa countries (Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe) as a means to reduce vulnerabilities to and mitigate the impact…
Prevention of unplanned pregnancies among HIV-infected individuals is critical to the prevention of mother to child HIV transmission (PMTCT), but its potential has not been fully utilized by PMTCT programmes. The uptake of family planning methods among women in Uganda is low, with current use of family planning methods estimated at 24%, but available data has not been disaggregated by HIV status. The findings of this study highlight the need for…
Recent innovative research has identified key factors that put vulnerable South African women at risk of HIV/AIDS and gender-based violence, including high-risk patterns of alcohol abuse and sexual partnering, gender norms that place men in control in sexual relationships, low educational levels and limited access to employment, poor health care, inadequate housing, and sex work. These studies identified vulnerable populations of South African…
This publication provides a descriptive analysis of how adolescent girls and young women construct notions of risk and safety within the context of HIV/AIDS, and what strategies they develop to protect themselves. The study is based on data from interviews held with 821 young women aged from 15-24 from four communities of urban Lusaka, and supplemented by qualitative data from focus group discussions and in-depth interviews. Information from…
This report vividly illustrates the failure of the Kenyan government to care for women living with HIV. At healthcare centers across Kenya, these women encounter physical and verbal abuse and are subject to discriminatory standards of care. They often cannot access antiretroviral treatment and their rights to informed consent and confidentiality are frequently violated during HIV testing and treatment. The publication calls on the Kenyan…
This research article describes the results of an analysis of the 2003 Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey to examine factors associated with extra-marital sex among women in Nigeria and investigate how much variation in reported extra-marital sex can be attributed to individual and community-level factors.
This paper summarizes the results from an experiment conducted with unmarried young women aged 15-21 in rural southern Malawi, during which respondents were randomly assigned to either an audio computer-assisted self-interview or a conventional face-to-face interview. In addition, biomarkers were collected for HIV and three STIs: gonorrhea, chlamydia, and trichomoniasis. Before collecting the biomarkers, nurses conducted a brief face-to-…
Deeply entrenched gender inequities perpetuate the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Botswana and Swaziland, the two countries with the highest HIV prevalence in the world. The legal systems in both countries grant women lesser status than men, restricting property, inheritance, and other rights. Social, economic, and cultural practices create, enforce and perpetuate legalized gender inequalities and discrimination in all aspects of women's lives. Neither…
While acknowledging the significant overall progress made by the Zambian government in scaling up HIV treatment generally, this report documents how the government has fallen short of its international legal obligations to combat violence and discrimination against women. The report details abuses that obstruct women’s ability to start and adhere to HIV treatment regimens, including violence against women and insecure property rights that often…
This paper demonstrates the importance of utilising official statistics from the voluntary counselling and testing centres (VCT) to determine the association between gender and HIV infection rates in Kenya. The study design adopted was a record based survey of data collected from VCT sites in Kenya. Of those who were tested, significantly more females tested positive and had twice as high a chance of being infected by HIV than males. The…