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…
In 2016, 89% of pregnant women living with HIV in Eastern and Southern Africa received antiretroviral treatment to prevent vertical transmission of HIV. Despite this scale-up, in the same region, an estimated 77,000 children (0-14 years) acquired HIV in 2016. AIDS-related illness remains the leading cause of death for women of reproductive age (15-49 years) globally. With countries now providing lifelong treatment to pregnant women living…
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…
The Asia-Pacific region has witnessed progress in ending the HIV epidemic, with a decrease in AIDS-related deaths, increased access to treatment, higher domestic financing, and notable improvements in addressing stigma and discrimination. Yet, challenges related to ending the HIV epidemic persist with respect to gender relations and inequalities. An adequate response to the gender dimension of the HIV epidemic requires public policies that…
The primary purpose of this Guidance on Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) for the HIV response in Asia and the Pacific is to offer top management, national planners, and civil society organizations a resource on how to integrate gender equality into HIV policy and planning. The note is based on a paper prepared for UN Women on …
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…
In Ukraine, 35 per cent of women living with HIV have experienced violence since the age of 15. Many women cannot definitively say that they have experienced violence, because they have suffered and witnessed gender-based violence through generations and it has been normalized. For women living with HIV, lack of awareness, shelters and support services pose additional challenges. Peer-support groups and the National Women’s Forum on HIV,…
With support from the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada, this video recaps UN Women's innovative small grants programme in sub-Saharan Africa aimed to increase access of HIV-affected women to their property and inheritance rights to reduce their vulnerabilities to and mitigate the impact of HIV and AIDS.
UN Women's Director of Policy, Purna Sen, speaks with UN Women Policy Specialist Elena Kudravtseva on women living with HIV and AIDS.
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…
8 March 2018
In honor of International Women's Day, the International Community of Women Living with HIV (ICW) released a new report entitled "Walking in our Shoes: Perspectives of Pregnant and Breastfeeding Women living with HIV on Access and Retention in Care in Malawi, Uganda and Zambia."
This report highlights the key factors that facilitate retention in care for women living with HIV and calls for increased focus on rights…