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Adolescents are one sixth of the world's population and account for 6% of the world's global burden of disease and injury. Over 3,000 adolescents die every day from largely preventable causes. In 2015, the top causes of adolescent girls' included HIV/AIDS and maternal conditions. This guidance assists governments to support country implementation to improve the health of their adolescents through evidence, case studies, a summary document, a…

A cross-sectional survey among migrants' wives in two rural villages of Chitwan district, Nepal aimed to measure knowledge and attitudes around HIV and STIs and to understand women's risk perception of HIV due to their husbands' sexual behavior. Results found that nearly all (94%) of women had a good knowledge of HIV, yet, nearly half the women reported being unable to talk to their husbands about HIV and STIs, even if they suspected risk of…

This report draws on analyses of national survey data and literature review results to provide an overview of the evidence on key aspects of sexual and reproductive health among very young adolescents aged 10–14 living in developing regions. Analyses showed that while most young adolescents report never having experienced sexual intercourse, some had begun to explore non-coital sexual activities. Many young adolescents who had experienced…

Malawi has undertaken a "test-and-treat" approach to prevent mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV, known as Option B+. This approach offers all pregnant and breastfeeding women with HIV lifelong antiretroviral therapy (ART) regardless of CD4 count or clinical stage. A cross-sectional, qualitative study explored experiences surrounding Option B+ for patients and health care workers in Malawi. Results found that patients and health care…

30 May 2017

Amanda Soto's life was turned upside down in 2012 when she learned she was HIV-positive. Feeling lost, Soto was referred to Newly Empowered Women, a facility that helped her move on with her life. "I'm very proud of her. I'm proud of the fact that this program was able to make a difference in her life," Michelle Durham, executive director of BEAT AIDS, a nonprofit organization, said.

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29 May 2017

Uganda is committed to having an HIV free generation and is working towards realizing zero new HIV infections and zero AIDS related deaths. But one critical question still hangs unanswered. The problem of stigma and discrimination associated with HIV/AIDS and society’s attitude to it is still a big question that needs an answer. Women living with HIV often experience domestic violence, the non-provision of basic needs,…

22 May 2017

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says girls account for nearly 80 per cent of new HIV infections in Sub-Saharan Africa. Dr Felicitas Zawaira, the Director, Family and Reproductive Health Cluster, WHO Regional Office for Africa, said this in a statement issued in Abuja on Monday. Zawaira said most recent data from the organisation showed that only 13 per cent of these adolescent girls, and nine per cent of adolescent boys…

22 May 2017

Community health workers (CHWs) are members of a local community who are chosen to provide basic healthcare and to promote healthy practices and illness prevention. However, despite the crucial service they provide in rural communities with limited access to healthcare or in places where reliance on traditional healers and birth attendants is the norm, community health workers remain unpaid for their service. Community…

19 May 2017

Age-disparate sexual relationships are associated with new HIV infections among young women in Zimbabwe, particularly for young women with partners ten years older or more. The findings come from a 15-year study by Imperial College London, Zimbabwe’s Biomedical Research and Training Institute and the Zimbabwe Ministry of Health and Child Care, and is the first large scale study to track the association between…

23 May 2017

Leading HIV/AIDS researcher Quarraisha Abdool Karim has been honoured with an honorary doctoral degree by the University of Johannesburg in recognition of her contribution towards improving the quality of life of women in Africa. With extensive research contributions that spans over 25 years’ Professor Abdool Karim’s commitment to create a deeper understanding on the growing HIV epidemic in South Africa and the factors…

23 May 2017

A recent study published in SAARC Journal of Tuberculosis, Lung Diseases & HIV/AIDS shows that wives of migrant workers in Nepal are at a higher risk of HIV, not because they are not aware of it but because they are scared to ask their husbands about their potentially risky sexual behaviour while abroad. "Two-thirds of the research participants had generally good knowledge of HIV and its mode of transmission, but half of…

15 May 2017

Gracious is an 18-year-old girl who was diagnosed with HIV at the age of 13. However, her family was afraid to tell her about her HIV status and instead told her that she had a heart condition. Gracious told her friends at school that she was on medication for her heart condition. However, the friends suspected that she was HIV-positive because she was often sick. Gracious took her medication to school in order to prove her…

15 May 2017

The statistics are well-known. African Americans bear the heaviest burden of HIV infection of all racial or ethnic groups in the United States, says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And the burden of this disease is carried squarely on the shoulders of African-American women. Their rates of new HIV infections are more than three times higher than those of white women and four times those of Hispanic women…

14 May 2017

At least 213 HIV-infected women have given birth to healthy babies in the government-run hospitals of Chhattisgarh in 2016-17, a State health official has said. “The health department is committed to secure the child from infection in the womb of a HIV-positive mother,” Chhattisgarh’s health services director R. Prasanna told PTI. The multi-medicine treatment process has yielded better results, with 213 HIV-infected women…

14 May 2017

President Jacob Zuma's wife, Tobeka Madiba-Zuma, on Saturday launched the Listen to the Girl Child campaign in KwaZulu-Natal. The Tobeka Madiba-Zuma Foundation, in partnership the eThekwini Municipality and the UN Aids programme, said it led a dialogue in sexual health, violence directed at children, girls and women, for 500 girls from schools around Inanda, KwaMashu and Ntuzuma in Durban. The campaign aims to provide…

26 April 2017

It can be in a doctor’s tone when asking a routine medical question, or in the way a nurse raises an eyebrow. The stigma surrounding HIV can be exhausting. For Angela Hodges, a 51-year-old resident of Washington, D.C., stigma initially led her to deny her HIV-positive diagnosis. Hodges lives at Miriam’s House, a residence for women who are HIV-positive and experiencing homelessness. The stigma has made it difficult for her…

8 May 2017

San Diego - Women living with HIV had a lifetime prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder four times the national average, according to a small study examining women from an urban HIV clinic. Overall, 43.1% of participants met diagnostic criteria for lifetime PTSD, while the national prevalence for women is estimated at 10%, reported Keemi Ereme, MPH, of Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, D.C., and…

2 May 2017

Bose Oladayo learned she was HIV positive more than a decade ago. Back then, Oladayo didn't know much about the disease, but the stories she heard painted a grim picture of her future. Oladayo wanted to "cure" herself of HIV. So, the mother of three made a mixture of deadly chemicals, among them bleach, and injected it into her body, thinking it would kill the disease, Oladayo told TheBody.com via email. "This happened so […

4 May 2017

Plenty of progress has been made in the fight against AIDS. Deaths peaked in 2005, at around 2m people. By 2015 that number had fallen to 1.1m. One big reason is that, of the 36.7m people currently infected with HIV, 18.2m are taking antiretroviral drugs that can hold the virus back for decades. Their number has risen more than twentyfold since the turn of the century.But not all the statistics are so encouraging. Around 1.9m…

5 May 2017

In the small maternity ward of a run-down health clinic in Delft, a half hour drive from Cape Town, the wooden benches in the waiting area are filled with young women and girls from the poor surrounding townships. Nozuko Manong, in her white-and-blue nurse's uniform, calls out a name and escorts a young woman into a small consulting room where the paint is peeling from the walls. Gently, Manong tells the patient the result of…