6 December 2017
This letter comes from a group of young African women and reflects their HIV prevention research priorities. It was submitted to the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Division of AIDS (DAIDS) during the open-comment period concerning the structure and agenda for its next funding cycle (2021-2027).
"Dear Dr. Carl Dieffenbach,
We are eight young women from South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe who were…
In February-March of 2016, the charitable organization Positive Women conducted research on women and HIV, which generated information on stigma, discrimination and the values and needs of women living with HIV and AIDS. The researchers intended to explore important aspects of women's lives related to their sexual and reproductive health, gender equality, human rights and gender-based violence, as well as their economic and political…
8 December 2017
The nonprofit International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM) announced today that it has received a DKK 20 million (USD 3.2 million) award over four years from the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs to advance innovative HIV and multipurpose prevention products designed to empower women with self-initiated tools they could use to protect their sexual and reproductive health. The grant will help support IPM’s regulatory…
1 December 2017
Shedding light on the activism of women living with the viruses, the film began to take shape in the early 2000s while Harriet Hirshorn, the movie's producer and director, was living in France. She worked with a researcher doing a feasibility study on the economic impact of making HIV/AIDS treatment…
The latest update from PEPFAR shares many successes from their Global Results, including their DREAMS program to prevent HIV infection among adolescent girls and young women. The update reported a 25-40% decline in new HIV diagnoses among adolescent girls and young women through the DREAMS program. In the 10 African countries (63 districts) implementing the programs, the majority (65% or 41) of the highest HIV-burden districts achieved a…
UNAIDS’ Right to health report makes it clear that states have basic human rights obligations to respect, protect and fulfil the right to health. The report gives voice to the communities most affected by HIV on what the right to health means to them. Wherever the right to health is compromised, HIV spreads. In sub-Saharan Africa, for example, 67% of new HIV infections among young people are among young women and girls aged between 15…
1 December 2017
The International Community of Women Living with HIV (ICW) joins our members, partners, policy makers and stakeholders all over the world in celebration of World AIDS Day 2017.
This World AIDS Day, ICW is proud to share our new Joint Policy Brief: HIV Prevention that…
1 December 2017
Every four minutes, three young women become infected with HIV (UNAIDS Right to Health report, 2017). They are…
1 December 2017
Today, as we commemorate World AIDS Day and celebrate the steady progress that has been made against the epidemic, 2,000 women will become infected with HIV. Tomorrow, another 2,000 women — many of them young women and girls living in sub-Saharan Africa — will join them. The next day, another 2,000. You get the picture.
The bottom line is that women bear the brunt of the HIV epidemic. HIV/AIDS is the leading cause…
1 December 2017
Michel Sidibé
Executive Director of UNAIDS
Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations
This World AIDS Day, we are highlighting the importance of the right to health and the challenges that people living with and affected by HIV face in fulfilling that right.
The right to health is a fundamental human right—everybody has the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and…
Baby Rivona is a legend in Indonesia, loved widely, as well as feared by some. A passionate advocate of women living with HIV and AIDS, she is as often seen on the world stage, as she is the many…
24 November 2017
In the United States, men are roughly four times more likely to be diagnosed with HIV than women. However, the one group that reaches and sometimes exceeds that of men is women in jails and prisons. According to the most recent numbers from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1.3 percent of women in prisons are living with HIV. Comparatively, the HIV prevalence among the general female population is 0.14 percent. That…
24 November 2017
According to Luiz Loures, Deputy Executive Director (Programme) of UNAIDS, HIV infection continues to spread among women and the gay community in Latin America largely due to violence and discrimination that affect both groups. “The rise in the number of infections is occurring among young women and gay men, both of whom live in situations of discrimination,”he said. Because they are discriminated against, he added,…
The ALIV[H]E Framework is a UNAIDS commissioned consortium in partnership with Salamander Trust, ATHENA, AIDS Legal Network, Project Empower, University of Kwazulu-Natal and HEARD. Implementing and research partners for this Framework spanned across Kenya, India, Malawi, South Africa, South Sudan and Zimbabwe. Despite the growing body of evidence linking VAW and HIV, very few programmatic frameworks exist to address this intersection.
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8 November 2017
Civil society organisations working on HIV and human rights in Africa recently condemned the enactment of repressive laws which often include provisions that criminalise HIV transmission, non-disclosure and exposure.The organisations delivered the statement at the 61st ordinary session of the African Commission on Human and People's Rights in Gambia last month. Some of these laws also often provide for compulsory HIV…
10 November 2017
For many young people the experience of going to a clinic to access services such as HIV testing and treatment can be very daunting. In South Africa, studies show nearly a third of new HIV infections are in adolescent girls and young women (aged 15-24), who are becoming infected at eight times the rate of their male peers.
”In most cases young people don’t feel comfortable to share the same space as their elders…
13 November 2017
The Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network (CAAN) announces Indigenous leadership will gather on November 30, 2017 in Ottawa, ON for a Parliamentary Breakfast to launch Aboriginal AIDS Awareness Week 2017. It will be followed December 1 - 6, 2017 by events across the country (Vancouver, Edmonton, Regina, Winnipeg, Iqaluit, Toronto, and more) to unite an Indigenous response to HIV and AIDS in a parallel theme to international…
10 November 2017
In Papa New Guinea, the risk of acquiring HIV is up to 7 times higher in women with violent or controlling intimate partners. The regional manager of the National AIDS Council Secretariat, Valentine Tango stated that "gender-based violence is a major driver of HIV in women. It affects the ability of women and girls to protect themselves from HIV, prevent unintended pregnancies or access HIV prevention services." He also…
1 November 2017
“A Paradigm Shift: The Impact of HIV/AIDS on African American Women and Families”, running Nov. 2-3 at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, takes a women-centered approach toward HIV, sexually transmitted diseases, and reproductive health – something that has rarely been explored, says Gail Wyatt, professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior,…