28 May 2018
South Africa has one of the biggest HIV epidemics in the world, with 7.1 million people living with the virus. There is a huge gender disparity in infection rates, with nearly four times the number of young women infected than men their age.
Sylvia, a woman that lives and breathes these statistics, is fighting to make history. Fourteen years ago, after her daughter fell gravely ill, she discovered her and her daughter…
21 May 2018
A study among pregnant women in South Africa has found many lack control over condom use – and would be willing to use pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to protect themselves and their babies from HIV. In-depth interviews with 26 South African women who were either pregnant or recently post-partum, revealed high levels of interest in PrEP. Many of the interviewees reported feeling that they did not have a say in whether they…
15 May 2018
Around the world, HIV rates for men and women are more or less equal — except in sub-saharan Africa. This is the only region in the world where the HIV rates for women are substantially higher than that of men. Scholars call this the “feminization” of HIV and AIDS in Africa and have devoted a great deal of effort into studying why.
Some 80% of all women who live with HIV live in sub-Saharan Africa. So getting to the…
8 May 2018
Although HIV rates continue to decrease in Uganda, it is still significantly more prevalent among women than men. According to a 2016-17 national survey, 7.6% of women are living with HIV compared to 4.7% of men. This disparity is particularly alarming among 15-24 years old for whom the disease is four times higher in females than males. The reasons behind this disparity are complex, but largely boil down to different forms…
14 May 2018
The number of US women involved in the criminal justice systems (ICJS) has ballooned since 1970. In 2015, approximately 110,000 women were imprisoned in local jails, 111,000 were in state or federal prison, almost 950,000 were on probation, and 113,000 were on parole.1-3 These women are at high risk for infection with HIV. Jaimie P. Meyer, MD, MS, FACP, assistant professor of medicine in the section of Infectious Diseases'…
10 May 2018
As disruptive technologies continue to emerge in Rwanda and across the African market in general, young innovators have been challenged to create digital innovations that can help tackle health epidemics such as HIV and AIDS. This came up during an Imbuto Foundation Youth Forum held Tuesday on the sidelines of the ongoing 2018 Transform Africa Summit in Kigali. The youth forum was held under the theme, “The New Lens: Know.…
30 April 2018
Mrs Samira Bawumia, politician and wife of the Vice President of Ghana, says in the face of declining resources for development agencies, civil society organisations and regional communities need to adopt innovative approaches to end Tuberculosis, Malaria and HIV/AIDS. She said various partners need to learn from previous programmes that had been initiated and implemented globally, and replicate their successes in…
28 April 2018
Zimbabwe's First Lady, Auxilia Mnangagwa, signed the Barcelona Declaration on Tuberculosis (TB) and the Bulawayo Declaration on HIV and TB, emphasising the importance of health education. The First Lady, who is the Ministry of Health and Child Care’s official cervical cancer ambassador and Minister of State for the Metropolitan Province of Bulawayo Angeline Masuku signed the declarations. The Declaration is open to any…
27 April 2018
A health sciences researcher at Simon Fraser University, Canada is challenging myths around sex for women living with HIV through a new project called Life & Love with HIV. Allison Carter says over 16,000 women in Canada are living with HIV but most of the support they receive in regards to sexual heath is about how to use condoms to prevent transmission. “However, science shows that when women are on treatment and…
18 April 2018
University of Waterloo researchers are working on a new way to prevent women from becoming infected with HIV. After years of research, professor Emmanuel Ho and his team have finished an initial phase of testing for an implant that uses the body's own immune cells to reduce the chances of infection.
Ho said current HIV-prevention strategies include condoms and anti-HIV drugs, which "eliminate HIV that's already…
9 April 2018
Lots has changed for HIV since the 1980s, back when there was no treatment, mass fear and lots of people were dying. Today, early treatment and access to effective HIV medication means people living with HIV can be ‘undetectable’, meaning you cannot acquire HIV from them and can expect to live a long and happy life. Science has proved it!
However, people living with HIV still face stigma and discrimination, and this…
9 April 2018
The Flair Magazine visited the home of Eve for Life last week and spoke with Executive Director, Claudia Fletcher, about their inspiring and life-changing movement. Eve for Life, based in Jamaica, is a non-governmental organisation which serves to provide psychosocial support for women and children living with or affected by HIV or AIDS, as well as improving the reproductive, sexual rights and better the overall quality of…
26 March 2018
Experts are grappling for ways to reduce age disparate relationships between older men and younger women, which are fuelling new HIV infections in South Africa, home to 7 million HIV positive people - the highest number in the world, according to the UN agency for HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). But "blessing" - where wealthy, older men spend lavishly on younger women - has become a symbol of prestige for teenage girls trapped in a…
3 April 2018
Nearly 18 million women (15 years+) make up over half of all adults living with HIV and young women (15-24 years) account for 60 percent of those infected in their age group. The World Health Organization states that women living with HIV in many countries are not afforded equal access to treatment and are often victims of discrimination and increased violence – including infringement upon their sexual and reproductive…
31 March 2018
Four times more women than men in the 15 to 19 age group in Jamaica are living with HIV, according to a 2015 epidemiology report. Against this backdrop, the new 'Consolidated Guideline on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of Women living with HIV' was introduced by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO) to the Jamaican multi-sectoral HIV response group at a three-day…
16 March 2018
Public-health leaders in the fight against HIV/AIDS have come to an ominous realization: Progress in cutting new infections has slowed, in part because of a persistent cycle of transmission among young women in sub-Saharan Africa. New HIV infections have been reduced around the world since the late 1990s by diligent efforts at education, the rollout of antiretroviral drugs and other factors. But declines have lost momentum…
15 March 2018
The night before International Women's Day, I volunteered behind the bar at "A Catwalk for Power, Resistance and Hope", a fabulous fashion show for women with HIV organised by ACT UP London Women (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), and Positively UK, an organisation that runs peer-led support groups for people with HIV.
After a poetry reading by the incredibly talented writer and motivational speaker Bakita, these…
19 March 2018
In many countries, laws and social norms put women and girls at a disadvantage when it comes to land inheritance, ownership, and control.
Deborah, a 58-year-old widow in Zimbabwe, said that after her husband died, her in-laws harassed and threatened her. They wanted her home and the land she had cultivated for four decades. Deborah said her brother-in-law had “taken all of my fields and even tilled my yard [to plant…
7 March 2018
Mid-way results from from two studies show that a vaginal ring releasing long-acting antiretroviral medicine to prevent HIV is up to 54% effective in preventing HIV infections among women. The ring, which is replaced monthly, slowly releases the antiretroviral medicine dapivirine and could give women an additional HIV prevention option that is discreet and that they can control.
“These results are significant,” said…
7 March 2018
By Peter Sands, Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
The speed and magnitude of recent developments supporting gender equality has been quite remarkable. Barriers and discrimination that have been tolerated or overlooked for far too long are now being energetically challenged and overcome. Inspired by the courage of women who are speaking out, many people are…