18 December 2019
The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, UN Women, has trained and empowered 300 vulnerable Nigerian women residing in Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, camps and those living with HIV/AIDS.
Read the full article online here.
Young women in sub-Saharan Africa remain at the epicentre of the HIV epidemic, with surveillance data indicating persistent high levels of HIV incidence. In South Africa, adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) account for a quarter of all new HIV infections. Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored and Safe (DREAMS) is a strategy introduced by the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) aimed at…
Communities of people living with HIV across the world refused to accept the slow pace of progress against HIV. Local peer support groups grew into national and international activist movements, demanding their right to the highest attainable standard of health, and to be treated with dignity and respect.
The purpose of this Technical Brief is to assist Global Fund applicants in their efforts to include and expand concrete and effective programs to remove human rights-related barriers to HIV prevention, diagnosis and treatment services. This brief discusses the barriers to access and uptake of HIV services that these programs help to remove, the investment approach to these programs, the various forms the programs take, the need to cost and…
Increasing and sustaining engagement in HIV care for people living with HIV are critical to both individual therapeutic benefit and epidemic control. Men are less likely to test for HIV compared with women in sub-Saharan African countries, and ultimately have delayed entry to HIV care. Stigma is known to impede such engagement, placing an importance on understanding and addressing stigma to improve HIV testing and care outcomes. This study…
According to the Equal Measures 2030 report, Harnessing the power of data for gender equality, no country has yet achieved full gender equality. The Lancet Series on Gender Equality, Norms, and Health shows that this inequality impacts heavily on global health outcomes, laying out the role of gender norms in perpetuating inequities, and HIV is no exception.
1 March 2019
The stigma and discrimination surrounding HIV have left some of those living and affected by it disadvantaged when it comes to earning a living. One group that is affected are women.
To address gender and socio-economic disparities and socio-health determinants among women living with HIV, the Malaysian AIDS Foundation (MAF) is organising a fundraising gala dinner dubbed “#GirlPower” in conjunction with the…
4 March 2019
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has donated N$240 million with a view to reduce new HIV infections amongst young women and adolescent girls in Namibia, African Daily Voice has learnt.
…Given the impact of gender inequality on the sexual and reproductive health of women and girls and the health of women and their children, UN Women developed a programming guide “Promoting Gender Equality in Sexual, Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health” that provides practical guidance and tools to understand the influence of gender inequality on sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health (…
In sub-Saharan Africa, adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) account for 74% of new HIV infections among people aged 15-24.1 This is roughly 360,000 AGYW a year – about 1,000 AGYW per day. AGYW experience converging social, cultural, economic, and political factors that undermine their sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), which makes them vulnerable to HIV infection.
In South Africa alone, about 102,000 new HIV…
5 February 2019
The Ambassador of the United States of America to Namibia, Lisa Johnson recently inspired young women to realise their full potential through the Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-Free Mentored and Safe (Dreams) project, an evidence-based programme intended to reduce new HIV infections among teens and young women.
Read the full article online…
29 January 2019
Adolescent girls exposed to severe drought conditions in rural Lesotho had higher rates of HIV, according to a new study led by researchers at ICAP at Columbia University, a global health organization based at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, and from the Lesotho Ministry of Health and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Adolescent girls and young women in rural areas of drought were also more…
5 February 2019
People living with HIV in Canada can be charged with aggravated sexual assault and be registered as sexual offenders if they do not disclose their HIV status, but many women living with HIV have little knowledge of this law, according to a recent qualitative study. The law contributes to increased HIV-related stigma, social injustices and vulnerability to violence for women living with HIV, argue Dr Saara Greene and…
2 February 2019
The minimum age of consent for sexual relations in Tanzania is 18 years. With teenage girls increasingly being infected with HIV, Section 431 of the Tanzania HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Act will be revised to allow adolescent girls, aged 15 years and older, to undergo testing.
Read the full article online…
Despite substantial declines in the number of new HIV infections globally, the HIV/AIDS epidemic among females ages 15-24 in select countries remains uncontrolled, with 67 percent of new infections in young people in sub-Saharan Africa occurring in adolescent girls and young women, or an estimated 280,000 new infections annually. HIV prevalence rates among female youth ages 15-24 are consistently higher than among their male peers, with…
Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) are disproportionately affected by HIV, and can face barriers to access, uptake and use of HIV prevention methods. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a new, effective, individually-controlled HIV prevention tool that could benefit some AGYW. This study used qualitative, participatory, peer-led methods to explore the knowledge, views and preferences of AGYW about PrEP, HIV prevention, and sexual and…
Despite a recent fall in new infections, South Africa still has the largest HIV epidemic in the world and has not achieved the 50% reduction envisaged in its national strategic plan for 2012-16. Adolescent girls and young women are disproportionately affected by HIV, with prevalence among 20-24 year olds three times higher in women (16%) than in men (5%), and females aged 15-24 years accounting for 37% of new infections. Amid the competing…
1 December 2018
By Magalie Nelson, Senior Health Advisor at Plan International Canada
HIV is on the rise for women around the world. Every week, 7,000 women are diagnosed with a positive status, and in 2016 women made up 52 per cent of all people living with HIV.
While adopting safer-sex practices remains one of the most common ways to prevent HIV, the solution is not that simple. When it comes to women, gender inequality…
11 December 2018
Around the world, more than half of individuals living with HIV are women. Young women are twice as likely as young men their age to contract HIV. Among 15- to 19-year-olds in sub-Saharan Africa, girls account for 3 of every 4 new infections. As a direct result, complications related to HIV are the leading cause of death among women ages 30 to 49.
HIV passes more easily from a man to a woman than the other way…
29 November 2018
The world has cut the number of AIDS-related deaths in half since the peak in 2005. But in many countries, HIV infections remain extremely high among key populations and among adolescent girls and young women. Globally, nearly 1,000 girls and young women are infected with HIV every day.
In South Africa, the country hardest hit by the HIV epidemic, girls aged 15-19 are eight times more likely to be living with HIV…