26 January 2018
Uganda has many women, who are infected with HIV and have had a history of physically violent partners. This has contributed to their life-threatening and life-reducing experiences within their families and with their sexual partners. Also, there is growing violence of child sexual abuse (CSA) that has increased HIV spread. There is a number of evident cases where domestic violence (DV) has contributed to HIV infections…
6 February 2018
Women living with HIV in Switzerland are mainly relying on male condoms for contraception, investigators report in HIV Medicine. The study found that two-thirds of reproductive age women reported using contraception, with three-quarters of these individuals putting their trust in male condoms. Unwanted pregnancies were not uncommon among women using contraception.
“Male condoms remained the most frequently used…
9 February 2018
By Linda-Gail Bekker, President of the International AIDS Society
Although women remain under-represented in many science fields, the history of HIV cannot be truly told without focusing on the critical contributions of women. I have worked as a physician scientist in this field with a particular focus on addressing the needs of poor and vulnerable communities in sub-Saharan Africa for the past 25 years. Women’s…
29 January 2018
Renewed campaigns to combat HIV and AIDS in Africa were the major highlights when the Organization of African First Ladies against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA) 20th Ordinary General Assembly closed in Addis Ababa Monday, 29 January. At the end of the three-day OAFLA meeting that brought together First Ladies from 16 countries, the members drew a six-point agenda aimed at driving a re-energized campaign to campaign HIV and AIDS…
25 January 2018
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and partners pledged support for HER – HIV Epidemic Response – an initiative to build private sector support for programs that address HIV in 13 African countries where adolescent girls and young women face disproportionate risk.
Nearly 7,000 young women and girls are infected with HIV every week, concentrated in East and Southern Africa. At the same time,…
25 January 2018
The majority of women living with HIV diagnosed with gynaecological cancer do not receive treatment recommended by cancer guidelines, according to research conducted in the United States and published in AIDS Journal. Women whose care did not match guideline standards had poorer survival compared to women who received the recommended care. Toxicity and patient factors were the main reasons why women did not receive…
25 January 2018
New figures reveal that less than half (46.3%) of all adolescent girls and young women (15-24 years) across seven East and Southern African countries are aware of their HIV status, meaning far fewer young women in the region are accessing effective HIV treatment to save their lives.
Just 45% of all young women living with HIV in the region are virally suppressed, according to samples collected as part of the…
25 January 2018
A non-governmental organization has embarked on a programme of re-enrolling teenage girls in the sub-county of Ugenya to school as a way of reducing their vulnerability to HIV infection. The Girl Child Network works with the DREAMS Innovation Challenge programme, which targets girls between 15-24 years. According to the DREAMS project coordinator, Hadley Muchela, this is an HIV intervention strategy that uses education…
24 January 2018
First Lady of Zimbabwe, Auxillia Mnangagwa, recently met with UNAIDS country director Mr. Girmay Haile at Zimbabwe House and pledged to play a national and international advocacy role in the fight against HIV and AIDS. In this meeting, Mr. Haile briefed the First Lady on upcoming events of the Organisation of African First Ladies against HIV and AIDS (OAFLA) which engages First Ladies for high level advocacy on HIV,…
18 January 2018
Experts have emphasised the importance of integrating gender-based issues in HIV response programmes in Vietnam in order to facilitate the country’s commitments to ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 and addressing gender inequalities.
Participants at a Hanoi seminar this morning argued that Vietnam has committed to eliminating AIDS by 2030 and has demonstrated its political leadership and commitments to participate…
1 December 2017
A lot has changed since the first World AIDS Day, in 1988, when people were still calling the disease "gay cancer" and doctors were scrambling to find a cure. Today, an HIV diagnosis isn't a death sentence, and we know that HIV and AIDS don't affect only gay men. In fact, in the last few years, a lot of HIV and AIDS prevention has revolved around Sub-Saharan Africa and the rest of the developing world, where the pandemic…
16 January 2018
According to Augustine Odhiambo, an HIV expert, one of the reasons why Kenya is yet to achieve zero infections despite all the resources directed towards the war against the virus is ignorance from sections of the populations who still don’t believe in the existence of the HIV virus. “As of how and why some sections of the population don’t believe in the existence of the HIV virus is still a conundrum to even people like…
11 January 2018
16 January 2018
Africa has the highest prevalence of communicable diseases in the world – both in terms of mortality (death) and morbidity (illness). This phenomenon has consequences for the health of both women and men, and increased gender mainstreaming in health programmes can help tailor solutions.
A 2016 Institute for Security Studies paper used the International Futures (IFs) forecasting system to explore health trends in…
Comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) plays a central role in the preparation of young people for a safe, productive, fulfilling life in a world where HIV and AIDS, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), unintended pregnancies, gender-based violence (GBV) and gender inequality still pose serious risks to their well-being. However, despite clear and compelling evidence for the benefits of high-quality, curriculum-based CSE, few…
19 December 2017
On December 17, Grand Challenges Canada announced 18 projects extending innovative forms of health-related lifelines to reach women and girls across the world. The projects embrace a range of creative products and services to advance gender equality, promote human dignity and empower women and girls. Two projects receiving large investments involve innovative approaches to improving menstrual, sexual and reproductive…
18 December 2017
Kenya is among seven African countries chosen to carry out large-scale trials for an injectable HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for women without HIV. The clinical trials of the new, long-acting injectable drug known as cabotegravir (CAB) will be conducted among 3,200 HIV-uninfected, sexually active women in Uganda, Botswana, Malawi, Swaziland, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya. The trial is meant to examine the…
12 December 2017
Evidence clearly shows the links between gender-based violence (GBV) and HIV – both as cause and consequences of women and girls' vulnerability to HIV. In some areas, women who were physically or sexually abused by an intimate partner are up to twice more likely to get HIV. Young women and adolescent girls represent 60% of newly infected worldwide and 22% in West Africa have increased vulnerability. Benin is no…
There is rightly a huge global effort to enable women living with HIV to have long, productive lives through treatment access. To improve women's health and know how to best optimize facilitators and minimize barriers to access and adherence, more needs to be understood about these issues from women's own perspectives. In this study, women's key barriers in accessing HIV treatment was reviewed in three phases through: a literature review,…
Oral PrEP will reach women who need it if PrEP programs are well-supported and prepared. A collaboration between LVCT Health in Kenya and AVAC, through the USAID-funded OPTIONS Consortium, this video series shows how LVCT Health made changes at the site level and helped women interested in oral PrEP overcome recurring barriers to uptake and adherence.
Each film in the series highlights a different theme or challenge that emerged as…