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Summary of Campaign Actions: Support Dont Punish with a Focus of Women

Wed, 05 Jan 2022 01:52:43 Z

The individual campaigns led by women who use drugs from all regions, converge into this energetic and engaging call for equal access to health and human rights. In addition, this film summary of some of the campaign actions was launched on International Drug User’s Day 1st November.

Read the global activity round up here.

Country Examples of COVID-19 Harm Reduction Responses for Women who use Drugs

Wed, 05 Jan 2022 01:46:02 Z

This living report details the various global responses of organisations providing harm reduction and auxiliary services to women who use drugs. Responses to COVID restrictions for WUD have been mapped and are presented here.

United Nations Generation Equality Forum Addresses Covid-19’s Negative Impact On Women’s Health

Thu, 24 Jun 2021 17:54:16 Z

This year, the International Day of Action for Women's Health highlights the disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women’s right to sexual and reproductive health. Åsa Regnér, Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director for Normative Support, UN System Coordination and Programme Results at UN Women, addresses the negative impact which COVID-19 has had on women’s health, and the role which UN Women’s Generation Equality Forum will have on accelerating gender equality, particularly with concern to bodily autonomy and sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Read the full article here.

With global solidarity, Mozambique can overcome its crisis

Thu, 24 Jun 2021 17:48:39 Z

2.2 million Mozambicans are living with HIV, the second-highest number of people living with HIV in the world after South Africa. Every hour in Mozambique, four adolescent girls or young women acquire HIV. The pandemic and the conflict in Cabo Delgado have knocked back the life-saving and life-changing progress that had been made in Mozambique towards overcoming HIV and AIDS. But there is hope.

Read the full article here.

Can relationship-based approaches improve uptake of HIV-prevention among serodiscordant couples in Tanzania?

Thu, 24 Jun 2021 17:45:19 Z

Interview research in Kisarawe, Tanzania has found that heterosexual, serodiscordant couples (where one partner has HIV and the other does not) tend to make joint decisions about HIV prevention and treatment, suggesting that pairs often make decisions about HIV-prevention together and that working with both partners could increase PrEP and ART access.

Read the full article here.

International Day of Action for Women’s Health: An Interview with UN Women

Thu, 24 Jun 2021 06:26:08 Z

In commemoration of the International Day of Action for Women's Health, Nazneen Damji, Senior Global Policy Advisor for Gender Equality, HIV, and Health at UN Women, responds to issues concerning the health challenges women face in 2021, and how a gender equal world can look going forward.

Read the full article here.

5 Young Activists Making Generation Equality a Reality

Wed, 16 Jun 2021 21:17:00 Z

Global Citizen spoke to five members of the Generation Equality Forum Youth Task Force about what they hope to bring to the Generation Equality Forum, the gender equality issues they care about most, and how they would like to see young people stand up to achieve gender equality in our lifetime.

Read the full article here.

The ‘Education Plus’ Initiative (2021-2025) – Empowerment of adolescent girls and young women in Sub-Saharan Africa

Mon, 14 Jun 2021 21:19:14 Z

Jointly led by UNAIDS, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNICEF, UN Women, the ‘Education Plus’ initiative is a high-profile, high-level political advocacy drive to accelerate actions and investments to prevent HIV, centred on the empowerment of adolescent girls and young women and the achievement of gender equality in sub-Saharan Africa—with secondary education as the strategic entry point.

Read the full article here.

Gender equality and justice critical for ending AIDS

Mon, 14 Jun 2021 17:24:00 Z

On 10 June, representatives of the United Nations, Member States, young women’s movements and civil society laid out strategic pathways for advancing gender justice and women’s rights and agency at a thematic panel, Advancing Gender Equality and Empowering Women and Girls in the AIDS Response, held during the United Nations High-Level Meeting on AIDS. The panel focused on achieving the human rights of women and girls and addressing inequalities that drive the AIDS epidemic, discussing how to address gender-based inequalities and gender-based violence and intersecting forms of discrimination and ways of addressing these in the AIDS response.

Read the full article here.

55,000 women infected with HIV/AIDS weekly - UNAIDS

Tue, 08 Jun 2021 20:05:17 Z

According to findings released through the latest 2020 survey by the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), around 55,000 women and girls between 15 and 24 years get infected with HIV/AIDS globally every week. The UNAIDS data reveals that more than one third (35 per cent) of women around the world get infected with HIV/AIDS as a result of experiencing physical and sexual violence by an intimate partner or a non-partner at some point in their lives.

Read the full article here.

Forty years on and new UNAIDS report gives evidence that we can end AIDS

Mon, 07 Jun 2021 14:19:24 Z

Four decades after the first cases of AIDS were reported, new data from UNAIDS show that dozens of countries achieved or exceed the 2020 targets set by the United Nations General Assembly in 2016—evidence that the targets were not just aspirational but achievable. Young women in sub-Saharan Africa, however, continue to be left behind. Six out of seven new HIV infections among adolescents aged 15–19 years in the region are among girls. AIDS-related illnesses remain the leading cause of death among women aged 15–49 years in sub-Saharan Africa.

Read the full article here.

United Nations Secretary-General calls for a greater focus on ending inequalities to end AIDS

Tue, 01 Jun 2021 21:37:52 Z

Forty years since the first AIDS cases were reported and just weeks before the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on AIDS, the United Nations Secretary-General has released a new report with recommendations and targets to get the world back on track to end AIDS.

Read the full article here.

Statement: Rebuilding better together to end AIDS for women and girls

Tue, 01 Dec 2020 15:50:37 Z

Statement by UN Women on World AIDS Day, 1 December

Date: Tuesday, December 1, 2020

On this World AIDS Day we have good news to reflect on: according to the UNAIDS Global AIDS Update more women are on life-saving treatment than ever; and there has been steady progress, though still fragile, in reducing new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths among women in several regions. In recent encouraging news for HIV prevention, there is a long-acting injectable available that is adding another impactful option for women, potentially being 89 per cent more effective in preventing HIV among women in sub-Saharan Africa compared to daily tablets.

Read the full statement here

Coronavirus lockdowns seen increasing HIV risk to women and girls

Thu, 09 Jul 2020 23:34:39 Z

7 July 2020

Coronavirus lockdowns have hindered the fight against HIV infection in women and girls globally by limiting their access to education and protection from sexual violence. Governments' focus on tackling the pandemic has also shifted attention and resources away from protecting vulnerable populations from HIV, according to a study by the Joint United Nations Program on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS).

Read the full article here

Winnie Byanyima: End inequality to improve the global HIV response

Mon, 16 Mar 2020 14:26:48 Z

9 March 2020

The HIV/Aids epidemic has always been far more than a health issue. The virus thrives on inequality, insecurity, stigma and discrimination, marginalisation, criminalisation and exclusion.

Read the full article here

Adolescent girls and young women in sub-Saharan Africa more than twice as likely to acquire HIV

Mon, 16 Mar 2020 14:24:42 Z

9 March 2020

Between 1995 and 2018, the steepest decrease in new HIV infections among women occurred among adolescent girls and young women (aged 15 to 24 years)—a decline of 44% globally.

Read the full article here

Addressing the vulnerabilities that lead to HIV in young women

Mon, 16 Mar 2020 14:19:12 Z

6 March 2020

For many young women and girls, making safe and informed choices, which could limit their exposure to HIV, is no simple task. A young woman in poverty may be forced to exchange sex for favours, or to accept a marriage proposal from an older man.

Read the full article here

International Women’s Day:Foundation urges elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS

Mon, 16 Mar 2020 14:17:06 Z

8 March 2020

As the world commemorates 2020 International Women’s Day (IWD), AIDS Health Care Foundation (AHF), a Non-Governmental Organisation, has called for the elimination of Mother-To-Child Transmission (MTCT) of HIV and AIDS in Nigeria.

Read the full article here

Services tailored for women who inject drugs in India

Mon, 16 Mar 2020 14:14:11 Z

2 March 2020

People who use drugs are often highly stigmatized and face high levels of discrimination. Women who use drugs, however, are doubly stigmatized and discriminated against—because of their drug use and because of their gender.

Read the full article here

More effort needed to fight discrimination – Activists

Mon, 16 Mar 2020 14:12:22 Z

2 March 2020

Gloria Nawanyaga says being discriminated for living with HIV is much worse than the disease itself. “I have suffered discrimination and I know that it can be more lethal than the virus.”

Read the full article here

In battle against HIV women must bring men along

Fri, 13 Mar 2020 20:30:32 Z

29 February 2020

Women need men to be more interested in learning their HIV status. Research has also shown that women take their antiretroviral medication in a timely manner.

Read the full article here

Cultural inequalities towards women expose them to HIV infection

Fri, 13 Mar 2020 20:28:44 Z

27 February 2020

Restricted social autonomy of women can reduce their ability to access sexual health and HIV services. Less-educated women may be less knowledgeable about risks and therefore, more prone to adopt risky behaviours.

Read the full article here

For African women at risk of HIV, a woke world is still sound asleep

Fri, 13 Mar 2020 20:24:00 Z

17 February

The arrival in 2012 of a daily pill to prevent HIV infection was widely hailed as a breakthrough that could drive new infections worldwide to very low levels. Eight years later, it is having a strong impact in some places and little or none in others.

Read the full article here

Forty years into the HIV epidemic, AIDS remains the leading cause of death of women of reproductive age—UNAIDS calls for bold action

Fri, 13 Mar 2020 20:21:01 Z

5 March 2020

Gender discrimination and violence, gaps in education and lack of economic empowerment and protection of sexual and reproductive health and rights are blocking progress

Read the full article here

UNAIDS takes stock 25 years on from the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action for advancing the rights of women and girls and gender equality

Fri, 13 Mar 2020 20:05:08 Z

6 March 2020

The bad news about HIV, as Winnie Byanyima sums up plainly, is that it “sits on top of socio-economic injustices”. The UNAIDS Executive Director was speaking at the launch of the report “We’ve Got The Power – women, adolescent girls and the HIV response”.

Read the full article here

South Africa: Health Department to Investigate 'Forced' Sterilisations of Women Living With HIV

Fri, 13 Mar 2020 20:02:39 Z

11 March 2020

The Department of Health will investigate allegations that women living with HIV were coerced to undergo involuntary sterilisation. Last month, the Commission for Gender Equality released a report on the practice after an investigation that was prompted by a complaint it received in 2015.

Read the full article here

Putting women in the centre of the global HIV response is key to achieving epidemic control

Fri, 13 Mar 2020 20:00:54 Z

12 March 2020

As we celebrated International Women’s Day and applauded the many successes that women have, and continue to achieve globally, we are also reminded of the many challenges that remain. HIV/AIDS continues to be one such challenge.

Read the full article here

We can’t forget women as we tell the story of covid-19 – By failing to include them, we skewed our understanding of HIV/AIDS

Fri, 13 Mar 2020 19:58:47 Z

12 March 2020

Women who have been medical (and political) subjects of HIV/AIDS also have much to teach us during our current pandemic. Historically, women have been at the forefront of fighting to keep communities and families healthy.

Read the full article here

Message from the UNAIDS Executive Director on Zero Discrimination Day and International Women's Day

Fri, 28 Feb 2020 21:58:10 Z

As the Executive Director of UNAIDS, I lead the work of the United Nations to tackle AIDS. I’m also someone who has lost family members to AIDS. This is personal.

Read the full press statement here

I am Generation Equality: Nicholas Niwagaba, young leader, human rights advocate

Fri, 28 Feb 2020 21:05:36 Z

21 February 2020

I am Generation Equality because…I grew up in a community where HIV stigma was high, and I saw the effects firsthand. HIV information and services were not available, and I saw many of my friends and family members succumb to AIDS.

Read the full article here

Letters to the Editor: New report says unpaid work of women now a global crisis

Fri, 28 Feb 2020 21:00:08 Z

24 February 2020

A new report says the unpaid work of women has created a wealth gap that is causing a crisis in economic development and hampering economic growth.

Read the full article here

Report: South African State Hospitals 'Forcibly' Sterilized Women With HIV

Fri, 28 Feb 2020 20:55:44 Z

25 February 2020

State hospitals in South Africa have sterilized some pregnant HIV-Positive women without their consent, according to an investigation by the government’s Commission for Gender Equality.

Read the full article here

Half of Pregnant Women With HIV Not Prescribed Recommended Antiretroviral Therapy

Fri, 28 Feb 2020 20:52:58 Z

14 February 2020

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) prescribing practices in the United States do not align with current national guidelines for approximately half of pregnant women with HIV, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open.

Read the full article here

UNAIDS and IAEA forge a powerful partnership against the interlinked diseases of cervical cancer and HIV

Fri, 28 Feb 2020 20:50:37 Z

7 February 2020

UNAIDS and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have joined forces to increase action against cervical cancer and HIV. In a memorandum of understanding signed following an event to mark World Cancer Day at the headquarters of IAEA in Vienna, Austria, the two organizations pledged to scale up and expand services for adolescent girls and women affected by the two diseases.

Read the full article here

Black Women HIV Rates Decline, But Is It Progress?

Mon, 10 Feb 2020 17:28:35 Z

Date 5 February 2020

Unfortunately, Black and brown women continue to be the hardest hit female demographic in terms of new HIV diagnoses.

Read the full article here

19 000 Domestic Violence Cases Reported In 2019 Musasa Project

Mon, 10 Feb 2020 17:25:03 Z

3 February 2020

Presenting a paper on ‘Sexual and Gender Based Violence The Relationship with HIV’, Musasa Project legal officer Tinashe Chitunhu, said there was a huge link between sexual domestic violence and HIV/AIDS.

Read the full article here

Church related hospitals fight GBV

Mon, 10 Feb 2020 17:19:03 Z

6 February 2020

The Zimbabwe Association of Church-related Hospitals (ZACH) has held its annual conference in Harare early this week. The conference evolved around issues of gender-based violence (GBV) and HIV emerging from SASA communities. Sasa is a Kiswahili word that means now (now is the time to prevent violence).

Read the full article here

#InSpiteOf campaign reached more than a million people

Fri, 31 Jan 2020 19:42:49 Z

29 January 2020

#InSpiteOf, a social media campaign featuring the right of women living with HIV in eastern Europe and central Asia to live with dignity and respect, has reached more than a million people.

Read the full article here

Africa: UNAIDS Technical Support Identifies Human Rights, Gender Barriers and Strengthens Global Fund Grants

Fri, 31 Jan 2020 19:39:04 Z

28 January 2020

There is increased recognition that removing human rights- and gender-related barriers to accessing HIV- and other health services by populations living with and affected by HIV, is a prerequisite for ending AIDS, reaching Universal Health Coverage, reducing inequalities, and achieving many other Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

Read the full article here

Kenya: Global Fund Boosts Kenya HIV Kitty With USD 420 Million

Fri, 24 Jan 2020 21:21:46 Z

21 January 2020

The Global Fund, the body that finances the world's HIV, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria programmes, has given Kenya Ksh42 billion ($420 million) to cover the intervening years to 2024.

The Fund wants Kenya to step up prevention of HIV spread, TB and malaria, strengthen health and community systems and make extra efforts to take care of any person considered "vulnerable". It also wants Kenya to tackle gender inequalities and human rights barriers to health.

Link: Read the full article here

Cash transfer schemes reduce the chances of adolescent girls and young women contracting HIV

Fri, 24 Jan 2020 21:03:38 Z

20 January 2020

Efforts aimed at redressing gender inequalities and socioeconomic inequities can mitigate factors that fuel the HIV epidemic. In a study in Eswatini, cash transfers aimed at keeping adolescent girls and young women in school and giving them greater financial independence resulted in the odds of the recipients becoming HIV-positive being 25% lower than for people who were not eligible for the incentive.

Read the full article here

Nigeria: UN Agency Trains, Empowers 300 HIV Positive, Displaced Women in Skills, Arts

Mon, 20 Jan 2020 16:19:18 Z

18 December 2019

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, UN Women, has trained and empowered 300 vulnerable Nigerian women residing in Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, camps and those living with HIV/AIDS.