Content Type
FOUND 651
Of the estimated 42 million people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) at the end of 2002, 19.2 million-or about 45 percent-were women (UNAIDS and World Health Organization [WHO], 2002). In many countries around the world, the majority of new infections are occurring in women, particularly adolescents and young adults. Developing appropriate responses to the gender issues that continue to make both women and men vulnerable to HIV is critical to all…
This fact sheet addresses how women need methods to protect themselves from HIV that they can control. One of the most promising prevention options on the horizon is microbicides. Women would be able to control the use of protection for themselves and their partners from HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
In Thailand, a national program to prevention mother-to-child HIV transmission began in 2000. Elements of the program included voluntary counseling and HIV testing of pregnant women, a short course of zidovudine for HIV-infected women and their infants, and formula feeding for infants. Research, monitoring and evaluation of pilot projects, training and policy-making provided an essential foundation for the program. The authors estimate that…
UNFPA's annual AIDS report discusses the agency's HIV/AIDS-related work in several regions, including sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Central and Eastern Europe and Latin America. UNPFA works in three key areas to reduce HIV infections as well as other sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancies: young people, condom programming and pregnant women.
The Kenya Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMCT) Project, in partnership with Horizons/Population Council, UNICEF, and the Regional AIDS Training Network and with financial support from USAID, has developed a training manual for health providers on the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. The course was developed by many different experts including an obstetrician, pediatricians, lactation management specialists,…
As the AIDS epidemic continues to ravage communities across the developing world, households affected by HIV/AIDS face difficult choices as their limited resources are increasingly diverted to the costs of care and treatment. This paper seeks to examine the link between HIV/AIDS and women's property rights - if women's lack of rights increases household poverty and women's own vulnerability to infection, and if securing these rights can mitigate…
This report focuses on the plight of the women in Rwanda, Burundi, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of the Congo who have contracted HIV/AIDS as a result of rape during conflict in those countries. It argues that under international human rights and humanitarian law, these women have the right to reparations for their suffering, including guaranteed access to antiretroviral drugs to fight HIV / AIDS. The first part of the report…
This Report was commissioned by the United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan. Under the leadership of Ms Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of UNICEF, the Task Force on Women and Girls in Southern Africa comprises twenty seven members from Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa,…
This is a brief based on a background paper prepared for the WHO/UNFPA/Population Council Technical Consultation on Married Adolescents held in Geneva, Switzerland, 9-12 December 2003. Over the next decade in developing countries, more than 100 million girls under the age of 18, "children" as defined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, will be married. In countries with HIV epidemics, these girls, most of whom live in Africa and Asia,…
Unpaid care work is a major contributing factor to gender inequality and women's poverty. The amount and intensity of unpaid care work in Southern Africa has been exacerbated by the HIV and AIDS pandemic. Mainland Southern Africa is said to be the most affected region in the world. Southern Africa has less than 5% of the world's population and yet has the highest rates of HIV and AIDS infection. The worst affected countries include…
Presented at the 2004 African Regional Conference, this paper is on FAO’s reponse to the changing context of agricultural development as it is being shaped by the epidemic. The paper is presented in three parts: the first provides an update on the state of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the region; the second provides an overview of the breadth and depth of FAO’s responses to date; and the third concludes by identifying areas which require further…
This paper reviews and assesses the contributions made to date by sexual and reproductive health services to HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, mainly by services for family planning, sexually transmitted infections and antenatal and delivery care. It also describes other sexual and reproductive health problems experienced by HIV-positive women. It describes how sexual and reproductive health programmes can make an important contribution to HIV…
The International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), in partnership with organizations in Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Zambia, led a study of HIV and AIDS-related stigma and discrimination in these three countries. This project, conducted from April 2001 to September 2003, unraveled the complexities around stigma by investigating the causes, manifestations and consequences of HIV and AIDS-related stigma and discrimination in sub-Saharan Africa…
On April 2, 2003, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) hosted a meeting in Washington, DC to consider gender issues regarding the disclosure of HIV serostatus in sub-Saharan Africa. More than 90 technical personnel who work on HIV/AIDS, gender, and reproductive health issues participated in the meeting. The objective of the meeting was to explore the relationships between perceived outcomes and actual outcomes for women who…
The purpose of this paper is to analyze some of the linkages between HIV/AIDS, gender and household food security in rural Africa. To date, the majority of extant studies on rural HIV/AIDS have focused on the socio-economic impact of the epidemic on the family and household economy as a whole, without distinguishing in detail how men and women are affected and how male/female morbidity and mortality affect food and livelihood security. The…
This brochure highlights critical issues impacting on women and girls in the context of HIV/AIDS. The publication begins with an overview of the gender dimensions of the epidemic; outlines the necessity for adopting a rights-based approach when addressing these issues; and provides key information on issues such as the disproportionate burden on women, empowering men and women to prevent HIV/AIDS, and workplace issues in the context of HIV/AIDS…
This publication highlights successful initiatives in Africa that have inspired confidence that the continent can one day free itself of the virus, with or without a vaccine or medical cure. The report summarizes the challenges facing Africa and the wider international community as new resources are channeled into more effective efforts to confront HIV/AIDS on the continent. Three major challenges receive detailed attention: (1). The need…
This assessment of adolescent reproductive health (ARH) in Jordan is part of a series of assessments in 13 countries in Asia and the Near East.1 The purpose of the assessments is to highlight the reproductive health status of adolescents in each country, within the context of the lives of adolescent boys and girls. The report begins with social context and gender socialization that set girls and boys on separate lifetime paths in terms of life…
The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, in partnership with UNAIDS and other co-sponsors, organized the African Development Forum, which took place at the United Nations Conference Centre in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 3 to 7 December 2000. The Forum's purpose was to address and heighten awareness of crucial aspects in the fight against HIV/AIDS, such as political will and leadership, adequate resources and multisectoral…
"Community Lessons, Global Learning" is a partnership between the International HIV/AIDS Alliance and Glaxo Wellcome's Positive Action programme. This first report shares lessons about responding to HIV/AIDS between communities, countries and continents. Although the primary focus of the document is on community responses to HIV/AIDS, Section 5 of the report discusses gender, sexuality and sexual health. The "Community Lessons, Global Learning"…