By, Guy Hubbard, UNICEF, April 16, 2008
For the past eight months, 34-year-old Regina, a mother in Zambia’s Luapula Province, has been waiting anxiously for the final test results that will decide her daughter’s future. It is possible that her child may test positive for HIV.
Thankfully, Regina's local clinic runs a Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) programme. By providing both the mother and newborn child with doses of the drug Neviropene, the programme can reduce the chance of the virus being transmitted to her child.
“During childbirth, they gave me and my baby Neviropene and because of that I hope that my baby will be HIV-negative,” said Regina.
A lack of resources
Most clinics in Luapula do not provide PMTCT services. In fact, most are not even able to provide HIV testing, even though Zambia suffers from one of the world’s highest rates of HIV.
This lack of resources means that transmission of the virus from mother to child remains alarmingly high.
“There are some of my patients who we suspect have HIV and their babies died after being delivered,” said nurse Regina Olwita. “I think about 10 per cent of my patients would need PMTCT.”
Due to the lack of proper services, health workers in rural areas like Luapula have often been forced to watch helplessly as babies continue to be born with the virus, despite the fact that effective and affordable PMTCT programmes are available elsewhere.
Now, thanks to an historic agreement between UNICEF, non-governmental organization Family Health International and the Zambian Ministry of Health, PMTCT programmes are being established in all Luapula’s rural clinics.
Life-saving services
The initial rollout of the programme will include antiretroviral treatment for both pregnant women and children, as well as the training of health workers and other associated services.
“This is important because women do not go out of their area for antenatal services so you have to offer PMTCT at every place that they go to,” said Zambian Country Director of Family Health International, Cathy Thompson. “By expanding these services we will be able to reach 90 per cent of people in Luapula province.”
Children have to be eight months old to undergo the final test. Yet despite the agonizing wait, Regina remains optimistic. With the new PMTCT programme, mothers living with HIV throughout Luapula Province will have hope for their children's future.
Source: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/zambia_43579.html
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Stigma major obstacle to HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment for women
By, Rosanne Skirble, VOA News, April 3, 2008
A new survey finds that women living with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, face high levels of social stigma. Susan Blumenthal, senior policy and medical advisor for amfAR, the foundation for AIDS Research that released the national survey, says stigma is a major obstacle to the treatment and care of women infected with the virus. "In part because of more poverty, fewer resources and the social inequities that surround women's lives in many societies."
The majority of Americans surveyed said they would be uncomfortable having an HIV-positive woman as a healthcare or childcare provider. According to the findings 68 percent would be uncomfortable having an HIV-positive dentist; 57 percent would be uncomfortable having an HIV-positive woman as their physician, and 27 percent would be uncomfortable working closely with an HIV-positive woman. One in five said they would not even be comfortable having an HIV-positive woman as a close friend, and few Americans believe that HIV-positive women should have children.
The majority of Americans have pervasive negative views of women with the AIDS virus
Blumenthal says these attitudes reflect persistent, widespread misunderstanding of how the HIV virus is transmitted. She believes the way to combat such misconceptions is to bolster education and communication. "And yet our survey results reveal that less than one-third of Americans discuss HIV with their spouse or partner. And less than one-fifth discuss HIV with potential sexual partners, which is a real problem in terms of preventing this disease."
Blumenthal says another way to reduce the stigma associated with being an HIV-positive woman is to integrate AIDS testing into general medical practice. She says 65 percent of those surveyed supported routine AIDS testing, although she feels respondents may have assumed that the testing occurs more frequently than it actually does. "Sixty-seven mistakenly assumed that they are automatically screened for HIV when they are tested for other sexually transmitted infections. And 50 percent believeed that women are automatically tested during prenatal exams."
Women accounted for 27 percent of new HIV/AIDS diagnoses in 2005, up from 8 percent in 1985.
Source: http://www.voanews.com/english/Science/2008-04-03-voa44.cfm
A new survey finds that women living with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, face high levels of social stigma. Susan Blumenthal, senior policy and medical advisor for amfAR, the foundation for AIDS Research that released the national survey, says stigma is a major obstacle to the treatment and care of women infected with the virus. "In part because of more poverty, fewer resources and the social inequities that surround women's lives in many societies."
The majority of Americans surveyed said they would be uncomfortable having an HIV-positive woman as a healthcare or childcare provider. According to the findings 68 percent would be uncomfortable having an HIV-positive dentist; 57 percent would be uncomfortable having an HIV-positive woman as their physician, and 27 percent would be uncomfortable working closely with an HIV-positive woman. One in five said they would not even be comfortable having an HIV-positive woman as a close friend, and few Americans believe that HIV-positive women should have children.
The majority of Americans have pervasive negative views of women with the AIDS virus
Blumenthal says these attitudes reflect persistent, widespread misunderstanding of how the HIV virus is transmitted. She believes the way to combat such misconceptions is to bolster education and communication. "And yet our survey results reveal that less than one-third of Americans discuss HIV with their spouse or partner. And less than one-fifth discuss HIV with potential sexual partners, which is a real problem in terms of preventing this disease."
Blumenthal says another way to reduce the stigma associated with being an HIV-positive woman is to integrate AIDS testing into general medical practice. She says 65 percent of those surveyed supported routine AIDS testing, although she feels respondents may have assumed that the testing occurs more frequently than it actually does. "Sixty-seven mistakenly assumed that they are automatically screened for HIV when they are tested for other sexually transmitted infections. And 50 percent believeed that women are automatically tested during prenatal exams."
Women accounted for 27 percent of new HIV/AIDS diagnoses in 2005, up from 8 percent in 1985.
Source: http://www.voanews.com/english/Science/2008-04-03-voa44.cfm
Monday, March 31, 2008
HIV-positive women not likely to reveal condition
By, Sarah Krouse, ajc.com, March 31, 2008
HIV-positive women often do not reveal their diagnosis to current or possible sexual partners, to close friends, or to potential employers because of the stigma attached to the disease, according to a survey released Monday.
"Despite 25 years of progress in diagnosing and treating the disease, one in five Americans would not be comfortable with having an HIV-positive woman as a close friend," said Susan Blumenthal, senior policy and medical adviser for the American Foundation for AIDS Research, or amfAR.
Factors such as fear of contracting the disease, the belief that HIV/AIDS is a result of promiscuity or moral fault, and the severity of the disease all contribute to the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS, participants at a news conference said. Shame and blame were identified as two major obstacles for the 15.4 million HIV-positive women and girls worldwide.
"Women are the ones living in secret," said Regan Hofmann, editor in chief of POZ Magazine, a publication for people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS. "Women are terrified, women of all colors, of all socio-economic statuses."
Laura Nyblade, senior social scientist for the International Center for Research on Women, said, "Women are extremely vulnerable in social circles." She said because society has "an irrational fear of contracting AIDS from everyday contact," women often do not share their diagnosis for fear of being rejected by their friends and peers.
The amfAR survey revealed that a majority of Americans are uncomfortable with having an HIV-positive woman as a health-care or child-care provider. The panel discussed the importance of education and reaching out to policy makers to help remove the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS.
Hofmann said sex education must also be changed in order to reduce this stigma.
"The federal government prevents sexual education other than abstinence in some states, which is fine, but many young people think vaginal sex is the only real kind of sex. We need to redefine what this abstinence is. We have a lot of re-educating to do," she said.
An important part of preventing more women from contracting HIV is discussing the disease, according to Hoffman. "We did it with breast cancer, no one talked about it for so long. We can do it with HIV," she said.
"Women often times don't want to hear about heterosexual women with HIV because it then becomes something real that they have to worry about," said Hoffman. She stressed the importance of dialogue, especially the promotion of protected sex and discussing HIV status with future sexual partners.
Source: http://www.ajc.com/health/content/health/stories/2008/03/31/HIV_WOMEN01.html
HIV-positive women often do not reveal their diagnosis to current or possible sexual partners, to close friends, or to potential employers because of the stigma attached to the disease, according to a survey released Monday.
"Despite 25 years of progress in diagnosing and treating the disease, one in five Americans would not be comfortable with having an HIV-positive woman as a close friend," said Susan Blumenthal, senior policy and medical adviser for the American Foundation for AIDS Research, or amfAR.
Factors such as fear of contracting the disease, the belief that HIV/AIDS is a result of promiscuity or moral fault, and the severity of the disease all contribute to the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS, participants at a news conference said. Shame and blame were identified as two major obstacles for the 15.4 million HIV-positive women and girls worldwide.
"Women are the ones living in secret," said Regan Hofmann, editor in chief of POZ Magazine, a publication for people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS. "Women are terrified, women of all colors, of all socio-economic statuses."
Laura Nyblade, senior social scientist for the International Center for Research on Women, said, "Women are extremely vulnerable in social circles." She said because society has "an irrational fear of contracting AIDS from everyday contact," women often do not share their diagnosis for fear of being rejected by their friends and peers.
The amfAR survey revealed that a majority of Americans are uncomfortable with having an HIV-positive woman as a health-care or child-care provider. The panel discussed the importance of education and reaching out to policy makers to help remove the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS.
Hofmann said sex education must also be changed in order to reduce this stigma.
"The federal government prevents sexual education other than abstinence in some states, which is fine, but many young people think vaginal sex is the only real kind of sex. We need to redefine what this abstinence is. We have a lot of re-educating to do," she said.
An important part of preventing more women from contracting HIV is discussing the disease, according to Hoffman. "We did it with breast cancer, no one talked about it for so long. We can do it with HIV," she said.
"Women often times don't want to hear about heterosexual women with HIV because it then becomes something real that they have to worry about," said Hoffman. She stressed the importance of dialogue, especially the promotion of protected sex and discussing HIV status with future sexual partners.
Source: http://www.ajc.com/health/content/health/stories/2008/03/31/HIV_WOMEN01.html
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Women's Rights are human rights - The right to adequate health care
By, Jamaica Gleaner, March 31, 2008
Many women and girls in Jamaica who are infected with HIV face discrimination. Some children living with HIV/AIDS report that they cannot trust caregivers for fear that their personal information will be revealed to others.
Some 20,000 children in Jamaica are affected by HIV/AIDS and young women in the Caribbean between 15 and 24 are up to six times more likely to be infected with HIV than men.
CEDAW recommends that the Jamaican Government target adolescents to combat HIV/AIDS, adopt measures or get rid of discrimination against women and girls infected with HIV, and raise awareness of issues related to women's health, including their sexual and reproductive health and rights.
The August 2006 report on Jamaica of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women noted that while the Government of Jamaica was to be commended on its work on HIV and AIDS prevention and improvement of women's sexual health and reproductive rights, the Committee noted, with concern, the increasingly high rates of HIV/AIDS infection in adolescent girls.
The committee called on the Jamaican Government to monitor, systematically, women's access to health care, including primary and secondary health-care services, and to desegregate such data by urban and rural areas, and by age, and use such data as a basis for planning health-care delivery.
Noting that abortion is one of the five leading causes of maternal mortality, and noting the existence of the 1975 Ministry of Health policy on abortion, the committee expressed concern that the policy is not widely known or implemented, and services for the provision of safe abortions may not be available.
The committee also requested that the state adopt measures to eliminate discrimination against women and girls infected with HIV/AIDS.
Excerpted from 'CEDAW for Jamaicans', produced by the Women's Resource and Outreach Centre, Kingston, and the August 2006 report on Jamaica of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women 36th session. Email wroc@cwjamaica.com.
Source: http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20080331/flair/flair2.html
Many women and girls in Jamaica who are infected with HIV face discrimination. Some children living with HIV/AIDS report that they cannot trust caregivers for fear that their personal information will be revealed to others.
Some 20,000 children in Jamaica are affected by HIV/AIDS and young women in the Caribbean between 15 and 24 are up to six times more likely to be infected with HIV than men.
CEDAW recommends that the Jamaican Government target adolescents to combat HIV/AIDS, adopt measures or get rid of discrimination against women and girls infected with HIV, and raise awareness of issues related to women's health, including their sexual and reproductive health and rights.
The August 2006 report on Jamaica of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women noted that while the Government of Jamaica was to be commended on its work on HIV and AIDS prevention and improvement of women's sexual health and reproductive rights, the Committee noted, with concern, the increasingly high rates of HIV/AIDS infection in adolescent girls.
The committee called on the Jamaican Government to monitor, systematically, women's access to health care, including primary and secondary health-care services, and to desegregate such data by urban and rural areas, and by age, and use such data as a basis for planning health-care delivery.
Noting that abortion is one of the five leading causes of maternal mortality, and noting the existence of the 1975 Ministry of Health policy on abortion, the committee expressed concern that the policy is not widely known or implemented, and services for the provision of safe abortions may not be available.
The committee also requested that the state adopt measures to eliminate discrimination against women and girls infected with HIV/AIDS.
Excerpted from 'CEDAW for Jamaicans', produced by the Women's Resource and Outreach Centre, Kingston, and the August 2006 report on Jamaica of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women 36th session. Email wroc@cwjamaica.com.
Source: http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20080331/flair/flair2.html
Granny, 73: My life with HIV
By, Carolyn Kissoon, Trinidad News, March 29, 2008
Great-grandmother, Cynthia Pascal, has been living with the deadly HIV virus for five years. And although her lifestyle has changed, Pascal has not allowed the virus to control her daily routine.
She still cares for her seven children, 16 grand children and six great grand children. And she is still an active member of the community church.
Pascal, 73, stood smiling before an audience at City Hall, Harris Promenade, San Fernando yesterday and spoke about living with the HIV virus.
"I did not know I had the virus. I was getting slimmer and slimmer and I thought it was my kidney. Doctors could not tell me what was happening until I collapsed one day and was taken to the San Fernando General Hospital. There I was diagnosed with the virus. AIDS is not a nice thing to be living with. But I did not allow it to control my life," she said.
Pascal, of Siparia, pleaded with youths to have only one sexual partner. "I want to warn young people to stick to one partner. Don't go jumping from here to there it does not pay," she said.
Pascal said the greatest pain for people with the virus was discrimination. "I have not really experienced discrimination, but I know what it can do -it can kill you," she said.
Pascal was speaking at a symposium hosted by the Ministry of Social Development to commemorate International Women's Day. The symposium was titled "Keeping the Promise: An Agenda for Action on Women and HIV".
Dr Amery Browne, Minister of Social Development, applauded Pascal, for speaking about living with the disease. "It is not easy to step forward and reveal one's status before a large national audience. Ms Pascal you are extremely courageous and you still have so much to contribute to our nation," he said.
The function was attended by Central and South staff of the ministry.
Browne said there were currently some 20,000 to 30,000 people in Trinidad and Tobago living with HIV. The majority of the new infections occur among individuals in their reproductive years, 15 to 44, he said. Browne added that national statistics also indicated that women account for 45 per cent of new HIV cases.
Browne challenged his staff to take on the responsibility to pass out information to the men and women of the nation. "As minister I will not tolerate any ill-treatment or hostility from my staff towards any persons living with HIV," he said.
Browne said researchers have found that the root causes of HIV/AIDS were violence, poverty, inequality and violations of economic, legal, educational and health rights.
He said if Trinidad and Tobago was to win the battle against the spread of HIV, the first step should be to show compassion for all those infected by HIV and Aids.
Source: http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=161300431
Great-grandmother, Cynthia Pascal, has been living with the deadly HIV virus for five years. And although her lifestyle has changed, Pascal has not allowed the virus to control her daily routine.
She still cares for her seven children, 16 grand children and six great grand children. And she is still an active member of the community church.
Pascal, 73, stood smiling before an audience at City Hall, Harris Promenade, San Fernando yesterday and spoke about living with the HIV virus.
"I did not know I had the virus. I was getting slimmer and slimmer and I thought it was my kidney. Doctors could not tell me what was happening until I collapsed one day and was taken to the San Fernando General Hospital. There I was diagnosed with the virus. AIDS is not a nice thing to be living with. But I did not allow it to control my life," she said.
Pascal, of Siparia, pleaded with youths to have only one sexual partner. "I want to warn young people to stick to one partner. Don't go jumping from here to there it does not pay," she said.
Pascal said the greatest pain for people with the virus was discrimination. "I have not really experienced discrimination, but I know what it can do -it can kill you," she said.
Pascal was speaking at a symposium hosted by the Ministry of Social Development to commemorate International Women's Day. The symposium was titled "Keeping the Promise: An Agenda for Action on Women and HIV".
Dr Amery Browne, Minister of Social Development, applauded Pascal, for speaking about living with the disease. "It is not easy to step forward and reveal one's status before a large national audience. Ms Pascal you are extremely courageous and you still have so much to contribute to our nation," he said.
The function was attended by Central and South staff of the ministry.
Browne said there were currently some 20,000 to 30,000 people in Trinidad and Tobago living with HIV. The majority of the new infections occur among individuals in their reproductive years, 15 to 44, he said. Browne added that national statistics also indicated that women account for 45 per cent of new HIV cases.
Browne challenged his staff to take on the responsibility to pass out information to the men and women of the nation. "As minister I will not tolerate any ill-treatment or hostility from my staff towards any persons living with HIV," he said.
Browne said researchers have found that the root causes of HIV/AIDS were violence, poverty, inequality and violations of economic, legal, educational and health rights.
He said if Trinidad and Tobago was to win the battle against the spread of HIV, the first step should be to show compassion for all those infected by HIV and Aids.
Source: http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=161300431
Thursday, March 27, 2008
61% of new HIV/AIDS infections are women
By, Inalegwu Shaibu, Vanguard, March 27, 2008
Nigeria: The National Agency For The Control of AIDS (NACA) has revealed that an estimated sixty one percent of Nigerians that are newly infected with HIV/AIDS are women and young girls.
The Director General of NACA, Professor Babatunde Oshotimehin who gave the information in Abuja at a One-day workshop organised by the agency to strengthen its relationship with the National Council of Women Societies (NCWS), said the country stands the risk of losing an important part of her population to the scourge of HIV if the situation is not quickly addressed.
He said, “We have to appreciate why it is important for women to be in the fore front of the battle against the spread of HIV/AIDS. Today, Africa houses seventy percent of HIV/AIDS infections, with sixty-one percent of new infections in Nigeria being women and young girls.
“Today, the burden of the disease in terms of care and support of those living with the virus, is the responsibility of the women, across our continent. So when you look at the statistics and you look at how the disease affects our women, it is important that we put women at the centre of the control of this virus.”
He called on women all over the country to take up the fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS, while decrying the gender distance between men and women even though majority of the transmission of the HIV virus occur between men and women.
The NACA boss said women are getting more infected than men because of their inability to speak out against some of sexual practices that has put them in disadvantaged positions.
His words, “It is also important to note before we forget that most of the transmission of the virus occurs between women and men. We also appreciate that with the gender distance between our men and our women, it is difficult for our women to protect themselves or to ensure that they will not get infected.”
“In our culture, it is hard for a wife to say no to our husband. We are talking here to women of substance who are enlightened. But when we go down to our homestead, where these women don’t have the education you have, it becomes even more difficult to negotiate safe sex.”
He added that the spread of the disease could be easily tamed if women are giving more right to negotiate sex with their partners.
The national president of NCWS Mrs. Ramatu Bala Usman in her remarks said the involvement of the women in the fight against HIV/AIDS would help reduce the spread of the disease.
She said, “It is in our collective interest to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS because we are the most infected and affected. We have about 250 groups that are affiliated to us and with all of them we will carry the campaign to the grassroots.
The Society is not just composed of educated elites but the also include the uneducated women in the rural areas. It is easier for us to penetrate the rural areas because we speak their language and they understand us
more.”
Source: http://www.vanguardngr.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5481&Itemid=47
Nigeria: The National Agency For The Control of AIDS (NACA) has revealed that an estimated sixty one percent of Nigerians that are newly infected with HIV/AIDS are women and young girls.
The Director General of NACA, Professor Babatunde Oshotimehin who gave the information in Abuja at a One-day workshop organised by the agency to strengthen its relationship with the National Council of Women Societies (NCWS), said the country stands the risk of losing an important part of her population to the scourge of HIV if the situation is not quickly addressed.
He said, “We have to appreciate why it is important for women to be in the fore front of the battle against the spread of HIV/AIDS. Today, Africa houses seventy percent of HIV/AIDS infections, with sixty-one percent of new infections in Nigeria being women and young girls.
“Today, the burden of the disease in terms of care and support of those living with the virus, is the responsibility of the women, across our continent. So when you look at the statistics and you look at how the disease affects our women, it is important that we put women at the centre of the control of this virus.”
He called on women all over the country to take up the fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS, while decrying the gender distance between men and women even though majority of the transmission of the HIV virus occur between men and women.
The NACA boss said women are getting more infected than men because of their inability to speak out against some of sexual practices that has put them in disadvantaged positions.
His words, “It is also important to note before we forget that most of the transmission of the virus occurs between women and men. We also appreciate that with the gender distance between our men and our women, it is difficult for our women to protect themselves or to ensure that they will not get infected.”
“In our culture, it is hard for a wife to say no to our husband. We are talking here to women of substance who are enlightened. But when we go down to our homestead, where these women don’t have the education you have, it becomes even more difficult to negotiate safe sex.”
He added that the spread of the disease could be easily tamed if women are giving more right to negotiate sex with their partners.
The national president of NCWS Mrs. Ramatu Bala Usman in her remarks said the involvement of the women in the fight against HIV/AIDS would help reduce the spread of the disease.
She said, “It is in our collective interest to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS because we are the most infected and affected. We have about 250 groups that are affiliated to us and with all of them we will carry the campaign to the grassroots.
The Society is not just composed of educated elites but the also include the uneducated women in the rural areas. It is easier for us to penetrate the rural areas because we speak their language and they understand us
more.”
Source: http://www.vanguardngr.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5481&Itemid=47
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Why tuberculosis matters to women’s health
By, Chief K.Masimba Biriwasha, Zivizo.com, March 24, 2008
Tuberculosis (TB) has a major impact on women’s sexual reproductive health and that of their children.
For pregnant women living in areas with high TB infection rates, there are increased chances of transmission of TB to a child before, during delivery or after birth.
The disease, especially if associated with HIV, also accounts for a high incidence of maternal and infant mortality.
Unfortunately, there is little to no attention about women’s vulnerability in the current discussion and media blitz of a resurgent TB internationally, and in particular, sub-Saharan Africa.
In sub-Saharan Africa, TB is threatening to unravel public health developments gains around increased HIV awareness yet the solutions are not easy, particularly where they concern the well-being of women.
There is need for huge financial, human, research and technological investments to fight the problem, but such investments will work only if they radically put women’s health needs at the core.
More importantly is the need to align TB services and sexual reproductive health services, so that men and women know about the implications of the disease to their sexual lives and households.
In sub-Saharan Africa, however, there are pervasive systemic factors driving TB and drug resistance which cannot be ignored in the search of an effective solution to the problem.
A myriad of social and economic factors, as well as weaknesses in the health care system, inadequate laboratories combined with high HIV infection rates are fueling the resurgence of the TB in the region. Food insecurity, poor sanitation and overcrowding also contribute to the easy spread of the disease.
According to WHO, although Africa has only 11% of the world’s population, it accounts for more than a quarter of the global TB burden with an estimated 2.4 million TB cases and 540,000 TB deaths annually.
Governments in the region are grappling with inadequate infrastructure and the increasing threat of drug-resistant strains and co-infection with HIV.
HIV infection increases the likelihood of active TB more than 50-fold. An estimated one-third of the 24.5 million people living with HIV (PLHIV) in sub-Saharan Africa also have TB.
For women in the region, the prospect of a growing TB epidemic is harrowing, but discussion about the disease rarely sheds light nor seeks to address women’s specific needs.
Given the high rates of HIV infection among women in the region - the majority of people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa (61% or 13,1 million) are women – it is clear that they are the largest group at threat to develop active TB, and more likely drug resistance.
Even with the availability of TB drugs women’s socio-economic status and gender roles including child-bearing and caring puts them at high risk of both HIV and TB infection.
For many women in the region, the costs required to access health care centers for TB treatment are usually out of reach due to poverty and undermined socio-economic positions.
The social stigma associated with a TB diagnosis and its association with HIV forces both men and women to delay going to get tested for the disease. In some cases, when men in marital relationships test positive for TB, they are likely to withhold the information, thereby increasing the likelihood to spread the disease to both their partner and children.
Moreover, women in the region are largely responsible for the upkeep of the family, including looking after children, which may also affect consistent uptake of TB drugs. When a woman is infected with TB, the likelihood of spreading the disease to young children is very high.
An additional concern for women is that the uptake of TB drugs interferes with contraceptive use, pregnancy, and fertility.
According to researchers, Rimfampicin, a key component of TB treatment can reduce the effectiveness of oral contraceptive pills and possibly other hormonal methods, such as implants, injectables and emergency contraception.
TB in pregnant women not only increases the rate of maternal mortality, but is also a major factor contributing to the risk of mother-to-child transmission of the disease.
A study conducted in South Africa revealed mother-to child-transmission of TB in 15% of infants born to a study cohort of pregnant women in which 77% were HIV-infected. Maternal HIV/TB coinfection also increases the risk of mother-to child transmission of HIV.
Screening and treatment for TB in pregnant women at antenatal clinics must therefore be a major public health priority in the region. Information about TB needs to be an integral component of sexual reproductive health services.
To be precise, women infected with TB need to be empowered so that they can take control of their own care and lives.
Source: http://zivizo.com/2008/03/24/why-tuberculosis-matters-to-women%e2%80%99s-health/
Tuberculosis (TB) has a major impact on women’s sexual reproductive health and that of their children.
For pregnant women living in areas with high TB infection rates, there are increased chances of transmission of TB to a child before, during delivery or after birth.
The disease, especially if associated with HIV, also accounts for a high incidence of maternal and infant mortality.
Unfortunately, there is little to no attention about women’s vulnerability in the current discussion and media blitz of a resurgent TB internationally, and in particular, sub-Saharan Africa.
In sub-Saharan Africa, TB is threatening to unravel public health developments gains around increased HIV awareness yet the solutions are not easy, particularly where they concern the well-being of women.
There is need for huge financial, human, research and technological investments to fight the problem, but such investments will work only if they radically put women’s health needs at the core.
More importantly is the need to align TB services and sexual reproductive health services, so that men and women know about the implications of the disease to their sexual lives and households.
In sub-Saharan Africa, however, there are pervasive systemic factors driving TB and drug resistance which cannot be ignored in the search of an effective solution to the problem.
A myriad of social and economic factors, as well as weaknesses in the health care system, inadequate laboratories combined with high HIV infection rates are fueling the resurgence of the TB in the region. Food insecurity, poor sanitation and overcrowding also contribute to the easy spread of the disease.
According to WHO, although Africa has only 11% of the world’s population, it accounts for more than a quarter of the global TB burden with an estimated 2.4 million TB cases and 540,000 TB deaths annually.
Governments in the region are grappling with inadequate infrastructure and the increasing threat of drug-resistant strains and co-infection with HIV.
HIV infection increases the likelihood of active TB more than 50-fold. An estimated one-third of the 24.5 million people living with HIV (PLHIV) in sub-Saharan Africa also have TB.
For women in the region, the prospect of a growing TB epidemic is harrowing, but discussion about the disease rarely sheds light nor seeks to address women’s specific needs.
Given the high rates of HIV infection among women in the region - the majority of people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa (61% or 13,1 million) are women – it is clear that they are the largest group at threat to develop active TB, and more likely drug resistance.
Even with the availability of TB drugs women’s socio-economic status and gender roles including child-bearing and caring puts them at high risk of both HIV and TB infection.
For many women in the region, the costs required to access health care centers for TB treatment are usually out of reach due to poverty and undermined socio-economic positions.
The social stigma associated with a TB diagnosis and its association with HIV forces both men and women to delay going to get tested for the disease. In some cases, when men in marital relationships test positive for TB, they are likely to withhold the information, thereby increasing the likelihood to spread the disease to both their partner and children.
Moreover, women in the region are largely responsible for the upkeep of the family, including looking after children, which may also affect consistent uptake of TB drugs. When a woman is infected with TB, the likelihood of spreading the disease to young children is very high.
An additional concern for women is that the uptake of TB drugs interferes with contraceptive use, pregnancy, and fertility.
According to researchers, Rimfampicin, a key component of TB treatment can reduce the effectiveness of oral contraceptive pills and possibly other hormonal methods, such as implants, injectables and emergency contraception.
TB in pregnant women not only increases the rate of maternal mortality, but is also a major factor contributing to the risk of mother-to-child transmission of the disease.
A study conducted in South Africa revealed mother-to child-transmission of TB in 15% of infants born to a study cohort of pregnant women in which 77% were HIV-infected. Maternal HIV/TB coinfection also increases the risk of mother-to child transmission of HIV.
Screening and treatment for TB in pregnant women at antenatal clinics must therefore be a major public health priority in the region. Information about TB needs to be an integral component of sexual reproductive health services.
To be precise, women infected with TB need to be empowered so that they can take control of their own care and lives.
Source: http://zivizo.com/2008/03/24/why-tuberculosis-matters-to-women%e2%80%99s-health/
How menstruation curses young girls to the margins
By, Chief K.Masimba Biriwasha, Zivizo.com, March 25, 2008
The natural process of menstruation comes as a big problem to women and girls in many parts of Africa, contributing to both disempowerment and health risks. For young girls, menstruation is an addition to the heap of gender disparities they have to face in life.
In order to stem the flow of monthly periods, the women and girls use anything from rags, tree leaves, old clothes, toilet paper, newspapers, cotton wool, cloths or literally anything that can do the job. Most girls from poor, rural communities do not use anything at all.
Menstruation is perhaps one of the most regular individual female experiences, but in sub-Saharan Africa, the experience impacts general society negatively due to the absence of products required by women and girls to cope with menstrual flow.
To state it bluntly, menstruation has become like a curse not only to the women and girls but to society in general on the continent. Because menstruation is largely a private act, the social damage is hidden and never makes the news headlines. Also, there are cultural and social attitudes that render discussion of menstruation almost impossible.
Affordable and hygienic sanitary protection is not available to many women and girls in Africa, and governments have done very little to address this reproductive health issue which has serious public health consequences.
In sub-Saharan Africa, millions of girls, in particular, that reach the age of puberty are highly disempowered due to the lack of access to sanitary wear. Many of the girls from poor families cannot afford to buy sanitary pads.
Hence they resort to the use of unhygienic rags and cloths which puts them at the risk of infections. Some of the girls engage in transactional sex so that they can raise the money required to buy sanitary pads, putting themselves at the risk of HIV and STI infection.
Alternatively, young girls are forced to skip school during the time they experience monthly periods to avoid both the cost of pads or use of cloths.
UNICEF estimates that one in 10 school-age African girls either skips school during menstruation or drops out entirely because of lack of sanitation.
“Less-privileged girls and women who represent substantial percentage in our contemporary Africa will continue to suffer resulting to school absenteeism and also compromising their right to health care,” says Fredrick W. Njuguna, Program Director of Familia Human Care Trust in Kenya.
A girl absent from school due to menstruation for 4 days in 28 days (a month) loses 13 learning days equivalent to 2 weeks of learning in every school term.
It is estimated that within the 4 years of high school the same girl loses 156 learning days equivalent to almost 24 weeks out of 144 weeks of learning in high school.
Consequently, a girl child potentially becomes a “school drop out” while she is still attending school. In addition, the girl child has to deal with emotional and psychological tension associated with the menstrual process.
To make matters worse, according to Familia Human Care Trust, many schools in underprivileged areas lack sufficient sanitation facilities which are vital not only during a girl’s period but at all times generally such as water, adequate toilet facilities and appropriate dumping facilities for sanitary wear.
As a result, menstruating girls opt to stay at home due to lack of facilities to help them manage their periods than go to school.
For orphaned girls, the prospect of coping with bodily changes can be a significant challenge because they have no-one to turn to for information or advice. In addition, due to the use of improper methods to contain their menstrual flow, young girls may develop bodily odors that will lead to social exclusion within peer groups thereby impacting negatively on the young girl’s confidence.
The need for affordable sanitary wear for women and girls in Africa is indeed a major public health issue that governments need to prioritize in their planning.
On the other hand, there is need for social innovation around this issue because the need for sanitary wear among girls and women will forever be there, at least in the long term future.
The bottom line is that no girl child must be disadvantaged by the natural process of menstruation, and governments, civil society organizations and other players need to work together to ensure that the appropriate services are made available.
As it is, menstruation has becomes the undeclared basis for the social exclusion of young girls. Sanitary protection is an urgent need among women and girls and needs to be made affordable so that poor and marginalized groups can have access.
Global alliances between women in the rich and poor worlds can be a key solution to the problem of access to sanitary wear. But governments also need to recognize that ensuring women and girl’s access to sanitary wear has positive public health implications.
Access to affordable, sanitary is human right but one that is never discussed in our male dominated world. Whatever the case, the fact remains: every woman should be able to have access to the right products which can enable them to happily experience menstruation.
No woman should be cursed to disempowerment by the natural act of monthly periods.
Source: http://zivizo.com/2008/03/25/how-menstruation-curses-young-girls-to-the-margins/
The natural process of menstruation comes as a big problem to women and girls in many parts of Africa, contributing to both disempowerment and health risks. For young girls, menstruation is an addition to the heap of gender disparities they have to face in life.
In order to stem the flow of monthly periods, the women and girls use anything from rags, tree leaves, old clothes, toilet paper, newspapers, cotton wool, cloths or literally anything that can do the job. Most girls from poor, rural communities do not use anything at all.
Menstruation is perhaps one of the most regular individual female experiences, but in sub-Saharan Africa, the experience impacts general society negatively due to the absence of products required by women and girls to cope with menstrual flow.
To state it bluntly, menstruation has become like a curse not only to the women and girls but to society in general on the continent. Because menstruation is largely a private act, the social damage is hidden and never makes the news headlines. Also, there are cultural and social attitudes that render discussion of menstruation almost impossible.
Affordable and hygienic sanitary protection is not available to many women and girls in Africa, and governments have done very little to address this reproductive health issue which has serious public health consequences.
In sub-Saharan Africa, millions of girls, in particular, that reach the age of puberty are highly disempowered due to the lack of access to sanitary wear. Many of the girls from poor families cannot afford to buy sanitary pads.
Hence they resort to the use of unhygienic rags and cloths which puts them at the risk of infections. Some of the girls engage in transactional sex so that they can raise the money required to buy sanitary pads, putting themselves at the risk of HIV and STI infection.
Alternatively, young girls are forced to skip school during the time they experience monthly periods to avoid both the cost of pads or use of cloths.
UNICEF estimates that one in 10 school-age African girls either skips school during menstruation or drops out entirely because of lack of sanitation.
“Less-privileged girls and women who represent substantial percentage in our contemporary Africa will continue to suffer resulting to school absenteeism and also compromising their right to health care,” says Fredrick W. Njuguna, Program Director of Familia Human Care Trust in Kenya.
A girl absent from school due to menstruation for 4 days in 28 days (a month) loses 13 learning days equivalent to 2 weeks of learning in every school term.
It is estimated that within the 4 years of high school the same girl loses 156 learning days equivalent to almost 24 weeks out of 144 weeks of learning in high school.
Consequently, a girl child potentially becomes a “school drop out” while she is still attending school. In addition, the girl child has to deal with emotional and psychological tension associated with the menstrual process.
To make matters worse, according to Familia Human Care Trust, many schools in underprivileged areas lack sufficient sanitation facilities which are vital not only during a girl’s period but at all times generally such as water, adequate toilet facilities and appropriate dumping facilities for sanitary wear.
As a result, menstruating girls opt to stay at home due to lack of facilities to help them manage their periods than go to school.
For orphaned girls, the prospect of coping with bodily changes can be a significant challenge because they have no-one to turn to for information or advice. In addition, due to the use of improper methods to contain their menstrual flow, young girls may develop bodily odors that will lead to social exclusion within peer groups thereby impacting negatively on the young girl’s confidence.
The need for affordable sanitary wear for women and girls in Africa is indeed a major public health issue that governments need to prioritize in their planning.
On the other hand, there is need for social innovation around this issue because the need for sanitary wear among girls and women will forever be there, at least in the long term future.
The bottom line is that no girl child must be disadvantaged by the natural process of menstruation, and governments, civil society organizations and other players need to work together to ensure that the appropriate services are made available.
As it is, menstruation has becomes the undeclared basis for the social exclusion of young girls. Sanitary protection is an urgent need among women and girls and needs to be made affordable so that poor and marginalized groups can have access.
Global alliances between women in the rich and poor worlds can be a key solution to the problem of access to sanitary wear. But governments also need to recognize that ensuring women and girl’s access to sanitary wear has positive public health implications.
Access to affordable, sanitary is human right but one that is never discussed in our male dominated world. Whatever the case, the fact remains: every woman should be able to have access to the right products which can enable them to happily experience menstruation.
No woman should be cursed to disempowerment by the natural act of monthly periods.
Source: http://zivizo.com/2008/03/25/how-menstruation-curses-young-girls-to-the-margins/
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
The tragedy of mother-to-child HIV transmission
By, Courtenay Bartholomew, Trinidad and Tabago Express, March 26, 2008
The most biologically intimate association between two individuals is that of a mother and the foetus developing within her womb. Indeed, one of the most tragic consequences of HIV infection in women, who become pregnant is the transmission of that deadly virus to their unborn offsprings.
Alarmingly, more than 60,000 babies worldwide inherit HIV from their mothers every year. Can you really fathom the dimension of this tragedy? It is indeed a tragedy when the mother does not know that she is HIV-infected at the time of her pregnancy as is frequently the case, but it is a felony when she knows that she is HIV-infected and still becomes pregnant while neither on treatment nor taking other precautions.
Now, without treatment, the overall risk of transmission from an infected mother to her infant is around 30 per cent but there are wide variations. In the early stages of infection and in the more advanced stages with severe immuno-suppression, the viral load is greater than at other times and transmission from mother to child is therefore considerably higher during these periods.
Infection may be transmitted in utero or during the delivery process (intrapartum) as the baby moves down the birth canal and is bathed with the mother's blood.
Infection may also be acquired after birth (postpartum) by breast feeding and so, we advise all HIV-positive mothers not to breast feed their babies and milk formulae are given free of charge. About 23 per cent of infections occur in utero and as early as the first trimester of pregnancy, however, most transmissions occur at the time of delivery or during the birth process.
Antibodies to a virus are a legacy of and a response to previous infections and remain in the blood indefinitely even when the virus has disappeared. These antibodies then protect the individual from being re-infected with the same virus. Not so with the retrovirus of AIDS. Viruses and antibodies co-exist in these patients because the antibodies are not powerful enough to suppress or kill the virus. Therefore, to test for the presence of HIV, we only need to test for the antibodies, which is much simpler and less dangerous than testing for the virus itself (much cheaper also).
All babies of infected mothers, whether the mother's virus is transmitted to the child or not (and remember, as I said above, only about 30 per cent of mothers transmit their HIV virus to their babies), carry "passively" the antibodies of the mother through the cord blood.
However, these harmless passively-acquired maternal antibodies may take up to 18 months in some cases to be cleared from the baby's blood and it is only then that one can say with certainty that the baby does not carry the virus. However, for the past two years we now have more sophisticated equipment in our MRF laboratory and use the ultra-sensitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique, which can identity viral infection within two months.
Because of the ridiculously high price of antiretroviral drugs, which third world countries could not afford and about which history will have a lot to say in years to come, there was a time when we were only able to prevent the baby from being HIV infected by giving the mother a short course of a single drug treatment (AZT) from 28 or 32 weeks of her pregnancy, during labour, and for a week to the baby after delivery. This reduced the percentage of HIV-positive babies drastically from about 30 per cent to about 6.8 per cent.
Unfortunately, therapy was then stopped and so, while many of the babies survived, the mother was not able to get long-term treatment. The tragedy of this is not worth recalling.
Now, all mothers attending the antenatal clinics of hospitals are tested for HIV antibodies (with their consent). This being so, we have found that 8 per cent of the mothers first became aware of their HIV positivity this way. This is interesting. Once they are tested positive they are then referred to the Medical Research Centre where we assess the immunological status of the mothers (CD4 counts) and their viral loads. Depending on those levels, we then treat the mothers at a certain time in their gestation period and treatment continues during labour, after labour and onwards. In other words, we now treat both mother and child. We use the World Health Organisation's (WHO) therapeutic recommendation for mother to child transmission. To date we have treated 203 mothers and only 7 (3.4 per cent) of their babies have been infected. But even that is not good enough.
We are now considering a more aggressive approach by treating the mothers with triple therapy earlier in their pregnancy although we are very concerned that since non-compliance of therapy increases with time, we may theoretically be putting the mothers at risk of developing drug resistance in time to come the earlier we begin treatment. Whether our concern is valid would only be determined in comparative long-term studies. In the meanwhile, we are aiming for a zero transmission of virus from mother to child without compromising the mother in the long-term.
- Prof Bartholomew is the Executive Director of the Medical Research
Source: http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_opinion?id=161298516
The most biologically intimate association between two individuals is that of a mother and the foetus developing within her womb. Indeed, one of the most tragic consequences of HIV infection in women, who become pregnant is the transmission of that deadly virus to their unborn offsprings.
Alarmingly, more than 60,000 babies worldwide inherit HIV from their mothers every year. Can you really fathom the dimension of this tragedy? It is indeed a tragedy when the mother does not know that she is HIV-infected at the time of her pregnancy as is frequently the case, but it is a felony when she knows that she is HIV-infected and still becomes pregnant while neither on treatment nor taking other precautions.
Now, without treatment, the overall risk of transmission from an infected mother to her infant is around 30 per cent but there are wide variations. In the early stages of infection and in the more advanced stages with severe immuno-suppression, the viral load is greater than at other times and transmission from mother to child is therefore considerably higher during these periods.
Infection may be transmitted in utero or during the delivery process (intrapartum) as the baby moves down the birth canal and is bathed with the mother's blood.
Infection may also be acquired after birth (postpartum) by breast feeding and so, we advise all HIV-positive mothers not to breast feed their babies and milk formulae are given free of charge. About 23 per cent of infections occur in utero and as early as the first trimester of pregnancy, however, most transmissions occur at the time of delivery or during the birth process.
Antibodies to a virus are a legacy of and a response to previous infections and remain in the blood indefinitely even when the virus has disappeared. These antibodies then protect the individual from being re-infected with the same virus. Not so with the retrovirus of AIDS. Viruses and antibodies co-exist in these patients because the antibodies are not powerful enough to suppress or kill the virus. Therefore, to test for the presence of HIV, we only need to test for the antibodies, which is much simpler and less dangerous than testing for the virus itself (much cheaper also).
All babies of infected mothers, whether the mother's virus is transmitted to the child or not (and remember, as I said above, only about 30 per cent of mothers transmit their HIV virus to their babies), carry "passively" the antibodies of the mother through the cord blood.
However, these harmless passively-acquired maternal antibodies may take up to 18 months in some cases to be cleared from the baby's blood and it is only then that one can say with certainty that the baby does not carry the virus. However, for the past two years we now have more sophisticated equipment in our MRF laboratory and use the ultra-sensitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique, which can identity viral infection within two months.
Because of the ridiculously high price of antiretroviral drugs, which third world countries could not afford and about which history will have a lot to say in years to come, there was a time when we were only able to prevent the baby from being HIV infected by giving the mother a short course of a single drug treatment (AZT) from 28 or 32 weeks of her pregnancy, during labour, and for a week to the baby after delivery. This reduced the percentage of HIV-positive babies drastically from about 30 per cent to about 6.8 per cent.
Unfortunately, therapy was then stopped and so, while many of the babies survived, the mother was not able to get long-term treatment. The tragedy of this is not worth recalling.
Now, all mothers attending the antenatal clinics of hospitals are tested for HIV antibodies (with their consent). This being so, we have found that 8 per cent of the mothers first became aware of their HIV positivity this way. This is interesting. Once they are tested positive they are then referred to the Medical Research Centre where we assess the immunological status of the mothers (CD4 counts) and their viral loads. Depending on those levels, we then treat the mothers at a certain time in their gestation period and treatment continues during labour, after labour and onwards. In other words, we now treat both mother and child. We use the World Health Organisation's (WHO) therapeutic recommendation for mother to child transmission. To date we have treated 203 mothers and only 7 (3.4 per cent) of their babies have been infected. But even that is not good enough.
We are now considering a more aggressive approach by treating the mothers with triple therapy earlier in their pregnancy although we are very concerned that since non-compliance of therapy increases with time, we may theoretically be putting the mothers at risk of developing drug resistance in time to come the earlier we begin treatment. Whether our concern is valid would only be determined in comparative long-term studies. In the meanwhile, we are aiming for a zero transmission of virus from mother to child without compromising the mother in the long-term.
- Prof Bartholomew is the Executive Director of the Medical Research
Source: http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_opinion?id=161298516
Preventing mother-to-child transmission to fight HIV/AIDS in Malawi
By, Gaelle Sevenier, UNICEF, March 25, 2008
Mwanza District Hospital, located near the southern border of Malawi, provides crucial care to many of the country’s most vulnerable families. Among them were two young couples who recently arrived at the hospital days apart with different stories but similar needs.
The couples were anxious to visit with staff in the hospital’s prevention of mothers-to-child transmission (PMTCT) programme, which tackles a broad range of issues presented by HIV and AIDS.
After a quick pin prick and a wait of less than an hour, a nurse took one of the couples, Mary and Devison, behind closed doors to give them their results. Both were HIV-positive, and Mary was four months pregnant.
Living with HIV, expecting a child
As part of the initiative to promote HIV testing and counselling for couples, the hospital was eager to provide them with the full range of PMTCT services. In most cases, a lack of spousal and family support is one of the major obstacles facing people with HIV and AIDS. Providing testing for couples is a way to mobilize such support, within the community.
The other couple, Mavis and James, were also living with HIV and expecting a child. Because of the Mwanza hospital’s programme, they had taken all the preventive steps available, and Mavis received medical guidance throughout her pregnancy.
When Mavis finally delivered her daughter, she immediately handed her over to the medical staff so that they could administer to her the antiretroviral drops that have proven effective in preventing HIV infection. This medical intervention is known to cut the risk of mother-to-child transmission in half.
The road to prevention
The groundbreaking PMTCT programme, supported by UNICEF, helps health workers administer services related to AIDS education and awareness, infant and young child feeding, antiretroviral treatment and social support.
“More and more people are tested because the policies and guidelines for health workers are now in place” says UNICEF Representative Aida Girma. “Testing is the key to both prevention and treatment. Since men take a critical role in deciding about the treatments, it is important to involve them.”
In a population of only 12 million, Malawi has almost 1 million people living with HIV/AIDS, more than 90,000 of whom are children. These alarming numbers underscore the necessity of providing women like Mary and Mavis affordable early diagnoses and treatments to prevent mother-to-child transmission.
Every year, an estimated 30,000 newborns in Malawi are infected with HIV by mother-to-child transmission, and UNICEF aims to markedly reduce that number. Given the magnitude of the problem, UNICEF allocates 30 per cent of its Malawi budget to fight HIV/AIDS; the hope is that PMTCT services will pave the way for a decline in paediatric infection rates.
‘HIV is everybody’s business’
Today, there are more than 152 PMTCT sites located throughout Malawi. Led by the Ministry of Health with support from development partners, the PMTCT Acceleration Plan intends to reach all maternal and child health facilities in order to ensure that every pregnant woman knows her HIV status and receives the proper care.
“There is a strong political will to fight HIV/AIDS in Malawi” said UNICEF Representative in Malawi Aida Girma. “There is still a lot of work to be done. UNICEF has to think universally, making sure that all children in all districts are addressed, and linking what is on the ground with the policy level. UNICEF has been actively campaigning to make sure children are given attention. We want to make sure HIV is everybody’s business.”
UNICEF hopes that by supporting HIV/AIDS services such as PMTCT, couples like Mary and Devison, Mavis and James will have access to the education and medicine that they so undeniably deserve and so desperately need.
Source: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/malawi_43369.html
Mwanza District Hospital, located near the southern border of Malawi, provides crucial care to many of the country’s most vulnerable families. Among them were two young couples who recently arrived at the hospital days apart with different stories but similar needs.
The couples were anxious to visit with staff in the hospital’s prevention of mothers-to-child transmission (PMTCT) programme, which tackles a broad range of issues presented by HIV and AIDS.
After a quick pin prick and a wait of less than an hour, a nurse took one of the couples, Mary and Devison, behind closed doors to give them their results. Both were HIV-positive, and Mary was four months pregnant.
Living with HIV, expecting a child
As part of the initiative to promote HIV testing and counselling for couples, the hospital was eager to provide them with the full range of PMTCT services. In most cases, a lack of spousal and family support is one of the major obstacles facing people with HIV and AIDS. Providing testing for couples is a way to mobilize such support, within the community.
The other couple, Mavis and James, were also living with HIV and expecting a child. Because of the Mwanza hospital’s programme, they had taken all the preventive steps available, and Mavis received medical guidance throughout her pregnancy.
When Mavis finally delivered her daughter, she immediately handed her over to the medical staff so that they could administer to her the antiretroviral drops that have proven effective in preventing HIV infection. This medical intervention is known to cut the risk of mother-to-child transmission in half.
The road to prevention
The groundbreaking PMTCT programme, supported by UNICEF, helps health workers administer services related to AIDS education and awareness, infant and young child feeding, antiretroviral treatment and social support.
“More and more people are tested because the policies and guidelines for health workers are now in place” says UNICEF Representative Aida Girma. “Testing is the key to both prevention and treatment. Since men take a critical role in deciding about the treatments, it is important to involve them.”
In a population of only 12 million, Malawi has almost 1 million people living with HIV/AIDS, more than 90,000 of whom are children. These alarming numbers underscore the necessity of providing women like Mary and Mavis affordable early diagnoses and treatments to prevent mother-to-child transmission.
Every year, an estimated 30,000 newborns in Malawi are infected with HIV by mother-to-child transmission, and UNICEF aims to markedly reduce that number. Given the magnitude of the problem, UNICEF allocates 30 per cent of its Malawi budget to fight HIV/AIDS; the hope is that PMTCT services will pave the way for a decline in paediatric infection rates.
‘HIV is everybody’s business’
Today, there are more than 152 PMTCT sites located throughout Malawi. Led by the Ministry of Health with support from development partners, the PMTCT Acceleration Plan intends to reach all maternal and child health facilities in order to ensure that every pregnant woman knows her HIV status and receives the proper care.
“There is a strong political will to fight HIV/AIDS in Malawi” said UNICEF Representative in Malawi Aida Girma. “There is still a lot of work to be done. UNICEF has to think universally, making sure that all children in all districts are addressed, and linking what is on the ground with the policy level. UNICEF has been actively campaigning to make sure children are given attention. We want to make sure HIV is everybody’s business.”
UNICEF hopes that by supporting HIV/AIDS services such as PMTCT, couples like Mary and Devison, Mavis and James will have access to the education and medicine that they so undeniably deserve and so desperately need.
Source: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/malawi_43369.html
Monday, March 24, 2008
HIV+ women start self-help groups
By, The Times of India, March 23, 2008
Their life began after they sensed death. And now after successfully running their own micro enterprises, about a hundred HIV-positive women are looking forward to forming their own self- help groups (SHG).
These women from slums across the city gathered at Ishwani Kendra in Wadgaonsheri on Thursday to take inspiration from those 'affected' women who are running their own SHGs successfully. They are wives of HIV-positive men and in some cases there is high probability that their children might also get infected.
The attempt was to help these women overcome the social stigma and discrimination which is a bigger killer than the deadly virus. The meet was aimed at those who run individual enterprises and want to form SHGs taking inspiration from the existing ones.
The members of Pragati Group narrated their success story of supplying tea powder to companies and locals in the area. "We started the business about four years ago with 10 members. Today we are generating sustainable income for our families and take good care of our children and their studies. Earlier, we earned a profit of Rs 35 per day per person, which has now gone up to Rs 100," said Lalita Arnekar, president of Pragati Group.
Most of these women are either widows or are on the verge of becoming one. Despite all the sorrow, group meetings are cheerful. Their only worry is their children's future. They fear their wards will not be accepted.
Kiran Mahamuni, an out-reach worker associated with the Family Saving Groups said, "We help build bridges between group members and their families. The group meetings are held on rotation basis at every member's house, which helps them develop camaraderie."
The meet, that was organised by an NGO – Sarva Seva Sangh (SSS), has been running micro enterprises for infected women in slums and with the growth of SHG movement, they wish to work in groups and expand their business.
Most of these women were housewives with no job skills. The going has been rough, but they persisted and now earn well. Earlier the stigma of being 'infected' prevented these women from participating in weddings or auspicious events. "Yet, they have managed to break away. Some women sell vegetables or fish and some have trained at beauty salons," says Mahamuni.
Renuka S (name changed), a participant said, "This group was my saviour- it became a part of me, and the members are my family. I noticed that I was no longer alone, that others had the same experience and found a way back. Suddenly I felt this strong feeling that I had to help others who are in a similar situation. To be a volunteer is being a better human being."
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Pune/HIV_women_start_self-help_groups/articleshow/2890224.cms
Their life began after they sensed death. And now after successfully running their own micro enterprises, about a hundred HIV-positive women are looking forward to forming their own self- help groups (SHG).
These women from slums across the city gathered at Ishwani Kendra in Wadgaonsheri on Thursday to take inspiration from those 'affected' women who are running their own SHGs successfully. They are wives of HIV-positive men and in some cases there is high probability that their children might also get infected.
The attempt was to help these women overcome the social stigma and discrimination which is a bigger killer than the deadly virus. The meet was aimed at those who run individual enterprises and want to form SHGs taking inspiration from the existing ones.
The members of Pragati Group narrated their success story of supplying tea powder to companies and locals in the area. "We started the business about four years ago with 10 members. Today we are generating sustainable income for our families and take good care of our children and their studies. Earlier, we earned a profit of Rs 35 per day per person, which has now gone up to Rs 100," said Lalita Arnekar, president of Pragati Group.
Most of these women are either widows or are on the verge of becoming one. Despite all the sorrow, group meetings are cheerful. Their only worry is their children's future. They fear their wards will not be accepted.
Kiran Mahamuni, an out-reach worker associated with the Family Saving Groups said, "We help build bridges between group members and their families. The group meetings are held on rotation basis at every member's house, which helps them develop camaraderie."
The meet, that was organised by an NGO – Sarva Seva Sangh (SSS), has been running micro enterprises for infected women in slums and with the growth of SHG movement, they wish to work in groups and expand their business.
Most of these women were housewives with no job skills. The going has been rough, but they persisted and now earn well. Earlier the stigma of being 'infected' prevented these women from participating in weddings or auspicious events. "Yet, they have managed to break away. Some women sell vegetables or fish and some have trained at beauty salons," says Mahamuni.
Renuka S (name changed), a participant said, "This group was my saviour- it became a part of me, and the members are my family. I noticed that I was no longer alone, that others had the same experience and found a way back. Suddenly I felt this strong feeling that I had to help others who are in a similar situation. To be a volunteer is being a better human being."
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Pune/HIV_women_start_self-help_groups/articleshow/2890224.cms
Sunday, March 23, 2008
HIV and life for rural women in South Africa
By, Newsvoa.com, March 23, 2008
South Africa has the highest number of H.I.V. cases of any country in the world. An estimated five and a half million people are infected with the virus that causes AIDS. Fifty-five percent of them are women.
Last May, the cabinet of President Thabo Mbeki approved a five-year plan to guide efforts against AIDS in South Africa. For the plan to succeed, officials agreed that the nation had to deal with poverty, violence and discrimination facing women.
Now, a report from Amnesty International looks at the struggles of poor rural women living with H.I.V. in South Africa. The human rights group says the women face oppression and human rights abuses. And it says other women who feel socially and economically weak are at a higher risk of becoming infected with H.I.V.
Amnesty researcher Mary Rayner says rural women have little control in their relationships with men. Amnesty gathered statements from thirty-seven women in Mpumalanga and KwaZulu Natal provinces. They said that sometimes, when they tried to ask their sexual partners to use protection, they might experience verbal aggression or violence.
The report says many rural women with H.I.V. do not have enough money to travel to health centers for treatment. They might not even have enough money for food. Unemployment is a major problem.
Amnesty International released its report in London last week. Also in London, Scottish singer Annie Lennox promoted her new charity single called "Sing." The aim is to raise money for the Treatment Action Campaign, an H.I.V./AIDS organization in South Africa.
Source: http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/2008-03-23-voa1.cfm
South Africa has the highest number of H.I.V. cases of any country in the world. An estimated five and a half million people are infected with the virus that causes AIDS. Fifty-five percent of them are women.
Last May, the cabinet of President Thabo Mbeki approved a five-year plan to guide efforts against AIDS in South Africa. For the plan to succeed, officials agreed that the nation had to deal with poverty, violence and discrimination facing women.
Now, a report from Amnesty International looks at the struggles of poor rural women living with H.I.V. in South Africa. The human rights group says the women face oppression and human rights abuses. And it says other women who feel socially and economically weak are at a higher risk of becoming infected with H.I.V.
Amnesty researcher Mary Rayner says rural women have little control in their relationships with men. Amnesty gathered statements from thirty-seven women in Mpumalanga and KwaZulu Natal provinces. They said that sometimes, when they tried to ask their sexual partners to use protection, they might experience verbal aggression or violence.
The report says many rural women with H.I.V. do not have enough money to travel to health centers for treatment. They might not even have enough money for food. Unemployment is a major problem.
Amnesty International released its report in London last week. Also in London, Scottish singer Annie Lennox promoted her new charity single called "Sing." The aim is to raise money for the Treatment Action Campaign, an H.I.V./AIDS organization in South Africa.
Source: http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/2008-03-23-voa1.cfm
Friday, March 21, 2008
Why Nepal's women are more prone to AIDS
By, America Chronicle, March 20, 2008
The rising trend of HIV/AIDS infections among Nepali women is suddenly being discussed at emergency levels by various international development agencies after their plight has been highlighted in the international media. Often Nepali health experts blame the AIDS rise on gender, sexual discrimination, and the lack of enough awareness on availability of safe reproductive health choices for Nepali women, an their poor knowledge based on AIDS prevention. According to UNAIDS Nepal statistics, as of 2006-2007, the coverage of HIV services for people most at risk was 15% for harm reduction; 22% for men who have sex with men; 68% for female sex workers; 27.5% for migrant laborers; 6% for personnel of the uniformed services; 4.5% for antiretroviral therapy; and 82% for prevention of mother-to-child transmission.
Women as an HIV/AIDS core prevention target however are found neglected purely on the basis of their silence. In Nepal, women contribute to 60% of national agriculture yield, have less than one-half access to incomes for the same category of jobs than men, work longer hours and produce nearly 55% of the national per capita income yield.
In 2008, primary AIDS service barriers to helping Nepali women include an inadequacy of public health infrastructure (facilities and logistics system), lack of female personnel trained in HIV services outside urban district headquarters and in critical areas where high-risk behaviors are prevalent; limited capacities of nongovernmental organizations for scale-up; and, fear of stigma and discrimination at health facilities.
Although Nepal´s Ministry of Health and Population has adopted a policy of decentralization of resources to capacitate district-level services, these efforts still lack core mainstreaming as an overall health intervention among donors and government counterparts. A whole big bureaucratic mess surrounds systematic referral service of women with HIV/AIDS and STIs in the rural areas. Due to these factors, AIDS mainstreaming into non-health ministries is limited, the education and labour implications are not considered, and there is parallel donor programming which makes them compete among themselves rather than work with one unified purpose.
In fact, UNAIDS Nepal Country Office stated recently that its overall effort in mainstreaming HIV/AIDS and targeting Nepali women with special programs was hampered by the April 2006 Jan Andolan which brought about a new government and several changes in the MOHP setup.
Overall, it appears in 2008, that Nepal has failed in properly integrating HIV interventions and services into other health components, though many agencies are expanding pilot efforts in HIV and sexual and reproductive health integration. According to UNAIDS, in 2008, tuberculosis and HIV units in various health institutions are working more closely together, while the World Bank has re-tailored the majority of its program outputs to adjust to rural demands for AIDS prevention and knowledge building services. More linkages definitely need to be created between key strategic communications and behavior change interlinkages so that various AIDS affected target groups can interact more openly among themselves as well as with the Ministry of Health and Population at the central and district level.
How can the Nepali problem be solved when it comes to giving women better HIV/AIDS treatment, care and support? It is felt by most donors that the low and inequitable coverage of HIV prevention and services must be reversed and a more equitable distribution network developed. Currently, only a fraction of Nepali women at high risk have access to AIDS prevention services in Nepal. Similarly, coverage must expand to provide more adequate VCT sites, solve resource constraints in antiretroviral drugs disbursement, develop timely logistical correction in drugs distribution taking into consideration geographical inaccessibility, and infuse proper distribution of brochures and other information and communication material in the Nepali and other local languages, that appears lacking. AIDS interventions, in short, must be gender specific in Nepal's context.
Nepal already faces increased levels of HIV infection among excluded populations and people exposed to HIV. The Nepal government's estimated number of people living with HIV is around 75,000, which comprised 0.5% of the 15 to 49 age group. However the Ministry of Health and Population is more comfortable quoting the 90,000 benchmark that other donors use, considering it a more realistic estimate. Taking the older figure of 75,000 AIDS infected, Nepali women comprise around 16,000 cases. Official deaths registered so far due to AIDS are around 5,100. There are nearly 2,500 AIDS cases identified among children under 16 in various hospitals in 2007. But Nepali epidemiologists and health experts believe the figure could be at least four to five times higher if every woman returning from India particularly those engaged in the commercial sex trade took an AIDS test in a nearby VCT. In other words, expect nearly 15,000 deaths every year for the next half decade due to HIV/AIDS infection in Nepal until figures stabilize due to current interventions as the curve stabilizes at some point in 5-7 years!
Nepali women have had to face the majority of infections because they happen to be the weaker sex, subjugated and dominated in the overall Nepali gender context. The number of migrant workers working in India, particularly in Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata has intensified. Nearly 8 million Nepali migrants live in India now, and at least one-sixth that number is known to visit their relatives and families' back home each year during the Hindu Dashain festival. Similarly nearly 100,000 Nepali women out of nearly 250,000 Nepali female commercial sex workers working in the major Indian cities have returned to Nepal in the past decade, of which nearly 40% are estimated to be HIV positive according to a 2003 BBC special report estimate. The trafficking of young women and children to India goes unabated despite stringent cross-border monitoring, and their ages range from 12-29 years old. Middle men charge anywhere between US$ 40 to US$ 600 to sell young Nepali women and girls to Indian brothels.
Similarly, many civil conflict displaced women and children, particularly those who have lost their husbands, or been driven away due to poverty in their homes and villages, have also no alternative but to migrate to the bigger cities and serve in various Nepali tea stalls, massage parlours, cabin restaurants and hotels. Some end up as maids but still low paid. In fact, the entire 28 KM ring road that circulates Kathmandu and Patan is full of cabin restaurants and cheap hotels meant for truck drivers and migrant communities from surrounding towns and villages around Kathmandu valley that come to sell vegetables and other raw commodties. International aid agencies working in HIV/AIDS impact mitigation believe that nearly 60,000 Nepali commercial sex workers are serving in these venues, all of them women employed in meager wages that range less than $3-5 a day.
After the Nepali civil conflict ended in 2006, some of the above detail slowly started surfacing and international donors started acting faster focusing on post-conflict rehabilitation and recovery efforts with some acknowledgment of the problem. While focusing on humanitarian interventions, they started focusing on Nepal, but with a 'Bangladesh in the 70s slant'. In short, Nepal became to many donors a new humanitarian and human crises zone, but where AIDS held sway over the country´s destiny in some undefined manner. This is the simple emerging truth of Nepal, its open border system, and the resulting increased feminization of HIV/AIDS cases.
In 2008 and the oncoming period, what Nepal needs is a high level of political commitment to get itself out of this unanticipated health rout. Instead of opting for fragmented and short term program outputs, Nepal must opt for a high level AIDS interventions, political commitment and visible national strategy solely concentrated in containing the feminization of the flow and defeating AIDS. HIV/AIDS must now be mainstreamed into Nepali society no doubt.
It is known that Nepal´s Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala is very much concerned with the health and education situation of most Nepali and he has repeatedly stated in the recent past, that these ought to be the national priorities, not politics. Despite, battling AIDS is not a national priority in the Nepali development agenda, though it is now acknowledged by the National Planning Commission as an acceptable crisis that needs some sort of socio-political intervention. It is imperative donors concentrate more on HIV prevention education for children, women, young people and young adults than spend endless sums of money in traditional capacity building activities of Nepal Government, where usually civil servants go abroad for a week or two on educational trips and come back with little experience to share at the national scale.
Advocacy, behavior change communications interventions must similarly be tailored to engage a strategic information parley with the infected population, particularly women, not trying to impose donor values and judgments that might be rejected as non-cultural specific, but knowledge transfer that includes cultural transformation. Service delivery must focus on prevention of mother-to-child transmission, harm reduction among drug users and joint national program management and support.
Above all there must be stronger civil society leadership, prioritization of workable strategies, strengthening data uniformity and relevance, monitoring and evaluation of all major government and donor activities, and systematizing technical support to government by the implementing partners aimed at technical soundness. Young people must be involved in reproductive health choices, enhancing life skills-based HIV education, and technical guidance on how to bear more successful results from the gender angle. These might be some, not an exclusive list of solutions, that might work best in Nepal´s context, based on the current weaknesses exhibited in fighting HIV/AIDS at the national level.
Source: http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/55967
The rising trend of HIV/AIDS infections among Nepali women is suddenly being discussed at emergency levels by various international development agencies after their plight has been highlighted in the international media. Often Nepali health experts blame the AIDS rise on gender, sexual discrimination, and the lack of enough awareness on availability of safe reproductive health choices for Nepali women, an their poor knowledge based on AIDS prevention. According to UNAIDS Nepal statistics, as of 2006-2007, the coverage of HIV services for people most at risk was 15% for harm reduction; 22% for men who have sex with men; 68% for female sex workers; 27.5% for migrant laborers; 6% for personnel of the uniformed services; 4.5% for antiretroviral therapy; and 82% for prevention of mother-to-child transmission.
Women as an HIV/AIDS core prevention target however are found neglected purely on the basis of their silence. In Nepal, women contribute to 60% of national agriculture yield, have less than one-half access to incomes for the same category of jobs than men, work longer hours and produce nearly 55% of the national per capita income yield.
In 2008, primary AIDS service barriers to helping Nepali women include an inadequacy of public health infrastructure (facilities and logistics system), lack of female personnel trained in HIV services outside urban district headquarters and in critical areas where high-risk behaviors are prevalent; limited capacities of nongovernmental organizations for scale-up; and, fear of stigma and discrimination at health facilities.
Although Nepal´s Ministry of Health and Population has adopted a policy of decentralization of resources to capacitate district-level services, these efforts still lack core mainstreaming as an overall health intervention among donors and government counterparts. A whole big bureaucratic mess surrounds systematic referral service of women with HIV/AIDS and STIs in the rural areas. Due to these factors, AIDS mainstreaming into non-health ministries is limited, the education and labour implications are not considered, and there is parallel donor programming which makes them compete among themselves rather than work with one unified purpose.
In fact, UNAIDS Nepal Country Office stated recently that its overall effort in mainstreaming HIV/AIDS and targeting Nepali women with special programs was hampered by the April 2006 Jan Andolan which brought about a new government and several changes in the MOHP setup.
Overall, it appears in 2008, that Nepal has failed in properly integrating HIV interventions and services into other health components, though many agencies are expanding pilot efforts in HIV and sexual and reproductive health integration. According to UNAIDS, in 2008, tuberculosis and HIV units in various health institutions are working more closely together, while the World Bank has re-tailored the majority of its program outputs to adjust to rural demands for AIDS prevention and knowledge building services. More linkages definitely need to be created between key strategic communications and behavior change interlinkages so that various AIDS affected target groups can interact more openly among themselves as well as with the Ministry of Health and Population at the central and district level.
How can the Nepali problem be solved when it comes to giving women better HIV/AIDS treatment, care and support? It is felt by most donors that the low and inequitable coverage of HIV prevention and services must be reversed and a more equitable distribution network developed. Currently, only a fraction of Nepali women at high risk have access to AIDS prevention services in Nepal. Similarly, coverage must expand to provide more adequate VCT sites, solve resource constraints in antiretroviral drugs disbursement, develop timely logistical correction in drugs distribution taking into consideration geographical inaccessibility, and infuse proper distribution of brochures and other information and communication material in the Nepali and other local languages, that appears lacking. AIDS interventions, in short, must be gender specific in Nepal's context.
Nepal already faces increased levels of HIV infection among excluded populations and people exposed to HIV. The Nepal government's estimated number of people living with HIV is around 75,000, which comprised 0.5% of the 15 to 49 age group. However the Ministry of Health and Population is more comfortable quoting the 90,000 benchmark that other donors use, considering it a more realistic estimate. Taking the older figure of 75,000 AIDS infected, Nepali women comprise around 16,000 cases. Official deaths registered so far due to AIDS are around 5,100. There are nearly 2,500 AIDS cases identified among children under 16 in various hospitals in 2007. But Nepali epidemiologists and health experts believe the figure could be at least four to five times higher if every woman returning from India particularly those engaged in the commercial sex trade took an AIDS test in a nearby VCT. In other words, expect nearly 15,000 deaths every year for the next half decade due to HIV/AIDS infection in Nepal until figures stabilize due to current interventions as the curve stabilizes at some point in 5-7 years!
Nepali women have had to face the majority of infections because they happen to be the weaker sex, subjugated and dominated in the overall Nepali gender context. The number of migrant workers working in India, particularly in Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata has intensified. Nearly 8 million Nepali migrants live in India now, and at least one-sixth that number is known to visit their relatives and families' back home each year during the Hindu Dashain festival. Similarly nearly 100,000 Nepali women out of nearly 250,000 Nepali female commercial sex workers working in the major Indian cities have returned to Nepal in the past decade, of which nearly 40% are estimated to be HIV positive according to a 2003 BBC special report estimate. The trafficking of young women and children to India goes unabated despite stringent cross-border monitoring, and their ages range from 12-29 years old. Middle men charge anywhere between US$ 40 to US$ 600 to sell young Nepali women and girls to Indian brothels.
Similarly, many civil conflict displaced women and children, particularly those who have lost their husbands, or been driven away due to poverty in their homes and villages, have also no alternative but to migrate to the bigger cities and serve in various Nepali tea stalls, massage parlours, cabin restaurants and hotels. Some end up as maids but still low paid. In fact, the entire 28 KM ring road that circulates Kathmandu and Patan is full of cabin restaurants and cheap hotels meant for truck drivers and migrant communities from surrounding towns and villages around Kathmandu valley that come to sell vegetables and other raw commodties. International aid agencies working in HIV/AIDS impact mitigation believe that nearly 60,000 Nepali commercial sex workers are serving in these venues, all of them women employed in meager wages that range less than $3-5 a day.
After the Nepali civil conflict ended in 2006, some of the above detail slowly started surfacing and international donors started acting faster focusing on post-conflict rehabilitation and recovery efforts with some acknowledgment of the problem. While focusing on humanitarian interventions, they started focusing on Nepal, but with a 'Bangladesh in the 70s slant'. In short, Nepal became to many donors a new humanitarian and human crises zone, but where AIDS held sway over the country´s destiny in some undefined manner. This is the simple emerging truth of Nepal, its open border system, and the resulting increased feminization of HIV/AIDS cases.
In 2008 and the oncoming period, what Nepal needs is a high level of political commitment to get itself out of this unanticipated health rout. Instead of opting for fragmented and short term program outputs, Nepal must opt for a high level AIDS interventions, political commitment and visible national strategy solely concentrated in containing the feminization of the flow and defeating AIDS. HIV/AIDS must now be mainstreamed into Nepali society no doubt.
It is known that Nepal´s Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala is very much concerned with the health and education situation of most Nepali and he has repeatedly stated in the recent past, that these ought to be the national priorities, not politics. Despite, battling AIDS is not a national priority in the Nepali development agenda, though it is now acknowledged by the National Planning Commission as an acceptable crisis that needs some sort of socio-political intervention. It is imperative donors concentrate more on HIV prevention education for children, women, young people and young adults than spend endless sums of money in traditional capacity building activities of Nepal Government, where usually civil servants go abroad for a week or two on educational trips and come back with little experience to share at the national scale.
Advocacy, behavior change communications interventions must similarly be tailored to engage a strategic information parley with the infected population, particularly women, not trying to impose donor values and judgments that might be rejected as non-cultural specific, but knowledge transfer that includes cultural transformation. Service delivery must focus on prevention of mother-to-child transmission, harm reduction among drug users and joint national program management and support.
Above all there must be stronger civil society leadership, prioritization of workable strategies, strengthening data uniformity and relevance, monitoring and evaluation of all major government and donor activities, and systematizing technical support to government by the implementing partners aimed at technical soundness. Young people must be involved in reproductive health choices, enhancing life skills-based HIV education, and technical guidance on how to bear more successful results from the gender angle. These might be some, not an exclusive list of solutions, that might work best in Nepal´s context, based on the current weaknesses exhibited in fighting HIV/AIDS at the national level.
Source: http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/55967
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Woman with HIV warns others to get tested
By, Ashley Andyshak, Fredericknewspost.com, March 21, 2008
Jessica Haidon was three months pregnant when she found out she had HIV.
At the start of her relationship with her son's father, he told her he didn't have it. When she confronted him again after her diagnosis, he confessed he'd been infected for six years.
Haidon got the necessary treatment, and she's thankful the virus was not passed to her son, Nicholas, now 14 months old. She said she's speaking out now so the same thing doesn't happen to more women.
"The most important thing is to go get tested together," Haidon said. "You can't trust what people say, and some people don't even know they have it."
Debbie Anne, the HIV/AIDS program supervisor at the Frederick County Health Department, said most couples who come to the department to get tested for HIV are young, and she wishes more would do the same.
People younger than 30 reported a quarter of the state's 2,000 new HIV cases in 2006, and the highest number of diagnoses over the last several years has been among women ages 15 to 39, according to statistics from the health department. More than 18,000 Marylanders have HIV, and in another 14,000, the virus has progressed to AIDS.
The presence of other sexually transmitted diseases increases the likelihood of acquiring or transmitting HIV, and these diseases are prevalent among young women. A study released this month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that one in four teenage girls have at least one STD.
"The gap that once existed between the number of men contracting HIV and the number of women has now closed," Anne said, and heterosexual contact is now the No. 1 method of transmission in Maryland.
Haidon and her son moved from Buffalo, N.Y., to Frederick in August to be closer to her mother, and she's been continuing her treatment at the health department.
She meets with Anne at least once every three months to monitor her immune system's functioning and the amount of virus in her bloodstream, both indicators of the disease's progression.
On a typical day, Haidon feels as healthy as she did before her diagnosis, just more tired, she said. It's a common symptom of those in early stages of the disease, and Haidon's lucky she was diagnosed when she was, Anne said.
"Many people don't get tested until they end up in the ER," Anne said, at which point the disease has likely progressed to AIDS. "It's much better to get diagnosed earlier." With treatment, those infected with HIV can die of old age, instead of AIDS, Anne said.
Fear of a positive diagnosis may keep some people from getting tested for HIV, but getting treatment and preventing transmission of the disease to someone else should trump the fear of finding out, Haidon said.
The fear of reactions from others can cause some young people to resist testing as well. After Haidon was diagnosed, her family and friends were supportive, but she's seen others in her situation who haven't been as fortunate.
"If somebody tells their family, they shouldn't turn them away," she said. "It doesn't make you a bad person."
Source: http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?storyID=72724
Jessica Haidon was three months pregnant when she found out she had HIV.
At the start of her relationship with her son's father, he told her he didn't have it. When she confronted him again after her diagnosis, he confessed he'd been infected for six years.
Haidon got the necessary treatment, and she's thankful the virus was not passed to her son, Nicholas, now 14 months old. She said she's speaking out now so the same thing doesn't happen to more women.
"The most important thing is to go get tested together," Haidon said. "You can't trust what people say, and some people don't even know they have it."
Debbie Anne, the HIV/AIDS program supervisor at the Frederick County Health Department, said most couples who come to the department to get tested for HIV are young, and she wishes more would do the same.
People younger than 30 reported a quarter of the state's 2,000 new HIV cases in 2006, and the highest number of diagnoses over the last several years has been among women ages 15 to 39, according to statistics from the health department. More than 18,000 Marylanders have HIV, and in another 14,000, the virus has progressed to AIDS.
The presence of other sexually transmitted diseases increases the likelihood of acquiring or transmitting HIV, and these diseases are prevalent among young women. A study released this month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that one in four teenage girls have at least one STD.
"The gap that once existed between the number of men contracting HIV and the number of women has now closed," Anne said, and heterosexual contact is now the No. 1 method of transmission in Maryland.
Haidon and her son moved from Buffalo, N.Y., to Frederick in August to be closer to her mother, and she's been continuing her treatment at the health department.
She meets with Anne at least once every three months to monitor her immune system's functioning and the amount of virus in her bloodstream, both indicators of the disease's progression.
On a typical day, Haidon feels as healthy as she did before her diagnosis, just more tired, she said. It's a common symptom of those in early stages of the disease, and Haidon's lucky she was diagnosed when she was, Anne said.
"Many people don't get tested until they end up in the ER," Anne said, at which point the disease has likely progressed to AIDS. "It's much better to get diagnosed earlier." With treatment, those infected with HIV can die of old age, instead of AIDS, Anne said.
Fear of a positive diagnosis may keep some people from getting tested for HIV, but getting treatment and preventing transmission of the disease to someone else should trump the fear of finding out, Haidon said.
The fear of reactions from others can cause some young people to resist testing as well. After Haidon was diagnosed, her family and friends were supportive, but she's seen others in her situation who haven't been as fortunate.
"If somebody tells their family, they shouldn't turn them away," she said. "It doesn't make you a bad person."
Source: http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?storyID=72724
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
South Africa: Rural women the losers in HIV response
By, Amnesty International, March 18, 2008
Amnesty International today revealed the extent of the impact of HIV and AIDS on poor rural women in South Africa with a major new report about the overwhelming challenges facing rural women in the midst of the severe HIV epidemic affecting the country.
The report, based on interviews with rural women living with HIV, describes oppression faced by rural South African women in their relationships with male partners and within the wider community because of their gender, HIV status and economic marginalization.
"Rural women in South Africa are disproportionately affected by poverty and unemployment," said Mary Rayner, Amnesty International's South Africa researcher.
"They continue to experience discriminatory attitudes and practices - particularly from male partners – and live in an environment rife with high levels of sexual and other gender-based violence."
Despite gradual improvements in the government's response to the HIV epidemic and the adoption of a widely-welcomed five-year plan, five and a half million South Africans are HIV-infected – one of the highest numbers in any country in the world. Fifty-five percent of them are women. South African women under 25 are three to four times more likely to be HIV-infected than men in the same age group.
Many women interviewed by Amnesty International said that they were often unable to protect themselves against HIV infection because they felt at risk of violence when they suggested condom use.
One woman told Amnesty International that her husband, a truck driver, spent much of his time on the road. On his days off, he would visit her but refused to use condoms when she asked him. After he abandoned the family, she became sick and discovered at the local clinic that she was infected with HIV. She has no knowledge of her husband's health since he left the family.
Several other women interviewed by Amnesty International described being beaten and forced to have sex by husbands who actively refused to use condoms.
"Rural South African women's lives are scarred by persistent violence in their families, homes and in under-policed, unsafe communities," said Michelle Kagari, Deputy Director of AI's Africa Programme.
"The co-existence of epidemics of both HIV and violence against women has raised the costs of violence for South African women and girls – both physically and psychologically," said Kagari
While there are many good reasons to increase testing for HIV across South Africa, the situation is complicated in a context of gender inequality and violence, poverty and social stigma. Women are currently tested in greater numbers than men currently. When they receive limited psycho-social support, disclosing their status can leave them vulnerable to abandonment, threats of violence and other consequences of stigma and discrimination.
The great majority of rural women interviewed by Amnesty International said that their male partners were reluctant to test for HIV or refused to be tested - even when there were strong indications the men might be HIV-infected.
Many of the women faced abuse from their partners when they tried to access health services for HIV-related treatment and care.
"When a woman's partner is in denial about his own HIV status, he may resent her going to the clinic or taking medication," said Rayner.
"In the context of pervasive gender inequalities, stigma and violence facing women, particular attention must be paid by those providing HIV testing to anticipate and address possible adverse consequences for women once they disclose their HIV positive status and start treatment."
Effective treatment for HIV and AIDS requires regular visits to hospitals and clinics for treatment and care. Women also need adequate daily food with which to take their medication. Rural women living with HIV in circumstances of poverty and unemployment face constant challenges in having regular access to food and often cannot afford transportation to health facilities accredited to provide treatment.
"Lack of physical access to treatment centres is tantamount to a denial of access to health care services, and the government must take more responsibility in ensuring this access," said Michelle Kagari.
Also hampering treatment in rural areas is the fact that South Africa's health system is currently facing severe shortages of essential medical and other staff necessary for providing a comprehensive service - particularly in these areas.
Amnesty International's report offers specific recommendations to national and provincial authorities on how to tackle the challenges facing rural women living with HIV. It also makes recommendations to donor countries and institutions that support health initiatives in South Africa.
"It is only with considerable difficulty and great determination that rural women manage to continue their treatment and try to improve their health - and the government has a responsibility to help them in this struggle."
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/200803180010.html
Amnesty International today revealed the extent of the impact of HIV and AIDS on poor rural women in South Africa with a major new report about the overwhelming challenges facing rural women in the midst of the severe HIV epidemic affecting the country.
The report, based on interviews with rural women living with HIV, describes oppression faced by rural South African women in their relationships with male partners and within the wider community because of their gender, HIV status and economic marginalization.
"Rural women in South Africa are disproportionately affected by poverty and unemployment," said Mary Rayner, Amnesty International's South Africa researcher.
"They continue to experience discriminatory attitudes and practices - particularly from male partners – and live in an environment rife with high levels of sexual and other gender-based violence."
Despite gradual improvements in the government's response to the HIV epidemic and the adoption of a widely-welcomed five-year plan, five and a half million South Africans are HIV-infected – one of the highest numbers in any country in the world. Fifty-five percent of them are women. South African women under 25 are three to four times more likely to be HIV-infected than men in the same age group.
Many women interviewed by Amnesty International said that they were often unable to protect themselves against HIV infection because they felt at risk of violence when they suggested condom use.
One woman told Amnesty International that her husband, a truck driver, spent much of his time on the road. On his days off, he would visit her but refused to use condoms when she asked him. After he abandoned the family, she became sick and discovered at the local clinic that she was infected with HIV. She has no knowledge of her husband's health since he left the family.
Several other women interviewed by Amnesty International described being beaten and forced to have sex by husbands who actively refused to use condoms.
"Rural South African women's lives are scarred by persistent violence in their families, homes and in under-policed, unsafe communities," said Michelle Kagari, Deputy Director of AI's Africa Programme.
"The co-existence of epidemics of both HIV and violence against women has raised the costs of violence for South African women and girls – both physically and psychologically," said Kagari
While there are many good reasons to increase testing for HIV across South Africa, the situation is complicated in a context of gender inequality and violence, poverty and social stigma. Women are currently tested in greater numbers than men currently. When they receive limited psycho-social support, disclosing their status can leave them vulnerable to abandonment, threats of violence and other consequences of stigma and discrimination.
The great majority of rural women interviewed by Amnesty International said that their male partners were reluctant to test for HIV or refused to be tested - even when there were strong indications the men might be HIV-infected.
Many of the women faced abuse from their partners when they tried to access health services for HIV-related treatment and care.
"When a woman's partner is in denial about his own HIV status, he may resent her going to the clinic or taking medication," said Rayner.
"In the context of pervasive gender inequalities, stigma and violence facing women, particular attention must be paid by those providing HIV testing to anticipate and address possible adverse consequences for women once they disclose their HIV positive status and start treatment."
Effective treatment for HIV and AIDS requires regular visits to hospitals and clinics for treatment and care. Women also need adequate daily food with which to take their medication. Rural women living with HIV in circumstances of poverty and unemployment face constant challenges in having regular access to food and often cannot afford transportation to health facilities accredited to provide treatment.
"Lack of physical access to treatment centres is tantamount to a denial of access to health care services, and the government must take more responsibility in ensuring this access," said Michelle Kagari.
Also hampering treatment in rural areas is the fact that South Africa's health system is currently facing severe shortages of essential medical and other staff necessary for providing a comprehensive service - particularly in these areas.
Amnesty International's report offers specific recommendations to national and provincial authorities on how to tackle the challenges facing rural women living with HIV. It also makes recommendations to donor countries and institutions that support health initiatives in South Africa.
"It is only with considerable difficulty and great determination that rural women manage to continue their treatment and try to improve their health - and the government has a responsibility to help them in this struggle."
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/200803180010.html
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Women are bound to get AIDS
By, Meredith F. Small, LiveScience, March 14, 2008
"Why is it girls have to always be polite and say yes, when boys can just say no and walk away?"
My 10-year old daughter said these chilling words to me after describing how she had been stuck doing a task at school when she really wanted to do something else.
I cringed inside, because I knew just what she meant. Girls are indeed brought up to be nicer than boys, and I know from a lifetime of experience that being a push-over doesn't serve women well.
And I cringed even more deeply because I had just read Lars Kallings' devastating critique of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the March issue of The Journal of Internal Medicine, in which he blames the powerlessness of girls and women to say "no" to unwanted or unprotected sex as a major factor keeping HIV alive.
We'd like to believe that infectious diseases are biological and that we contract them because of bad luck. Got the flu? Poor you must have touched a germ-covered door knob. Or because we happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, such as working close to sick birds.
But as infection and mortality rates show, human behavior molded by culture is the real culprit in the spread of HIV.
It starts with our evolutionarily determined drive to reproduce, which, Kallings points out, "dominates over altruistic behavior." Since HIV is transmitted primarily through sexual activity, and we'd rather have sex than think about the consequences, right off the bat all humans are at risk.
Culture is also supposed to mitigate our basic animal instincts, and yet the cultural lens has only helped HIV take hold. And this is especially true for women and girls.
The females of our species are at great risk for HIV because they know nothing; millions of girls live in cultures where education is reserved for boys, and girls are kept in the dark about everything, especially sex. In Bolivia, Kallings writes, 74 percent of young women know nothing about HIV/AIDS or they are seriously unclear about the virus. Apparently, across Asia, most women don’t even know how babies are born.
Women are also repressed by cultural traditions, historical or religious, which render them powerless and subjugated to men. A husband in those cultures can have sex with others, bring HIV back home, and there's no way a woman can refuse his wishes or ask that he use a condom.
That's why across the world, almost half the victims of HIV are women; those who still think of HIV/AIDS as a homosexual disease are not only uninformed, they are ignoring the global plight of women as well.
And when those women become pregnant, the HIV virus can be transmitted vertically to their infants. Thirty-two percent of the pregnant women in Botswana and 26 percent of the pregnant women in South Africa are reported to be HIV-positive. If their infants live, they could eventually join the legion of orphans that now populate HIV-infected countries. They become citizens with no parents, no families and no culture that anyone would recognize.
Culture, in the case of HIV/AIDS, is harming, not helping.
And the Western belief that science will put an end to this pandemic, and that girls and women in our culture are free to say "no" whenever they want, is just as culturally wrong.
Like other cultures, we also need to teach our daughters that it's OK to say "no," freely and often, because saying "no" is the best way for a woman to survive in any culture.
Source: http://www.livescience.com/history/080314-hn-aids.html
"Why is it girls have to always be polite and say yes, when boys can just say no and walk away?"
My 10-year old daughter said these chilling words to me after describing how she had been stuck doing a task at school when she really wanted to do something else.
I cringed inside, because I knew just what she meant. Girls are indeed brought up to be nicer than boys, and I know from a lifetime of experience that being a push-over doesn't serve women well.
And I cringed even more deeply because I had just read Lars Kallings' devastating critique of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the March issue of The Journal of Internal Medicine, in which he blames the powerlessness of girls and women to say "no" to unwanted or unprotected sex as a major factor keeping HIV alive.
We'd like to believe that infectious diseases are biological and that we contract them because of bad luck. Got the flu? Poor you must have touched a germ-covered door knob. Or because we happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, such as working close to sick birds.
But as infection and mortality rates show, human behavior molded by culture is the real culprit in the spread of HIV.
It starts with our evolutionarily determined drive to reproduce, which, Kallings points out, "dominates over altruistic behavior." Since HIV is transmitted primarily through sexual activity, and we'd rather have sex than think about the consequences, right off the bat all humans are at risk.
Culture is also supposed to mitigate our basic animal instincts, and yet the cultural lens has only helped HIV take hold. And this is especially true for women and girls.
The females of our species are at great risk for HIV because they know nothing; millions of girls live in cultures where education is reserved for boys, and girls are kept in the dark about everything, especially sex. In Bolivia, Kallings writes, 74 percent of young women know nothing about HIV/AIDS or they are seriously unclear about the virus. Apparently, across Asia, most women don’t even know how babies are born.
Women are also repressed by cultural traditions, historical or religious, which render them powerless and subjugated to men. A husband in those cultures can have sex with others, bring HIV back home, and there's no way a woman can refuse his wishes or ask that he use a condom.
That's why across the world, almost half the victims of HIV are women; those who still think of HIV/AIDS as a homosexual disease are not only uninformed, they are ignoring the global plight of women as well.
And when those women become pregnant, the HIV virus can be transmitted vertically to their infants. Thirty-two percent of the pregnant women in Botswana and 26 percent of the pregnant women in South Africa are reported to be HIV-positive. If their infants live, they could eventually join the legion of orphans that now populate HIV-infected countries. They become citizens with no parents, no families and no culture that anyone would recognize.
Culture, in the case of HIV/AIDS, is harming, not helping.
And the Western belief that science will put an end to this pandemic, and that girls and women in our culture are free to say "no" whenever they want, is just as culturally wrong.
Like other cultures, we also need to teach our daughters that it's OK to say "no," freely and often, because saying "no" is the best way for a woman to survive in any culture.
Source: http://www.livescience.com/history/080314-hn-aids.html
Uganda: Women shoulder AIDS burden
By, IRIN Plus News, March 8, 2008
In many parts of Uganda, especially rural areas, women's roles have not changed since the first Women's Day a hundred years ago. Women are still the primary caregivers, and they still don't get credit for it, according to Sylvia Tamale, the Dean of Makerere University's Law School, in the capital, Kampala.
The HIV/AIDS epidemic has only added to this burden, but the type of unpaid, informal work that women do, caring for sick or orphaned family members, still goes largely unnoticed.
The theme of Women's Day for 2008 is "transforming societies to achieve political and social development" but Tamale, and many others, question whether these goals can be achieved without recognising the value of women's work outside the formal economy.
HIV/AIDS has disproportionately affected women in Uganda - more women than men are infected with the virus, and women invariably take on the role of supporting those who fall ill.
According to Beatrice Were, a Ugandan HIV/AIDS activist, the disease has been a double-edged sword: women have generally carried the burden of care, but "HIV/AIDS has provided the opportunity to illustrate and to realise the invisible power that we women have always had."
Women were responding to the HIV/AIDS crisis in the mid-1980s, long before the government came on board. "Women were already there," she said. "Women have been at the forefront of the HIV/AIDS response."
Were found out she was HIV positive in 1991, after her husband died of the disease in 1990. Like many others, she felt personally judged after publicly announcing her status. "I think there's still a perception, in a Ugandan context, that we as women are the ones who spread the disease. Women have always been blamed," she said.
Tamale felt that despite being at the forefront of the HIV/AIDS fight, the impact of the epidemic on women had yet to be properly assessed.
On this Women's Day, Were said, she would like to see African leaders "live up to the promises they've made to make a change in the lives of women. As women, we want to see that change."
gg/ks/he
Source: http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77177
In many parts of Uganda, especially rural areas, women's roles have not changed since the first Women's Day a hundred years ago. Women are still the primary caregivers, and they still don't get credit for it, according to Sylvia Tamale, the Dean of Makerere University's Law School, in the capital, Kampala.
The HIV/AIDS epidemic has only added to this burden, but the type of unpaid, informal work that women do, caring for sick or orphaned family members, still goes largely unnoticed.
The theme of Women's Day for 2008 is "transforming societies to achieve political and social development" but Tamale, and many others, question whether these goals can be achieved without recognising the value of women's work outside the formal economy.
HIV/AIDS has disproportionately affected women in Uganda - more women than men are infected with the virus, and women invariably take on the role of supporting those who fall ill.
According to Beatrice Were, a Ugandan HIV/AIDS activist, the disease has been a double-edged sword: women have generally carried the burden of care, but "HIV/AIDS has provided the opportunity to illustrate and to realise the invisible power that we women have always had."
Women were responding to the HIV/AIDS crisis in the mid-1980s, long before the government came on board. "Women were already there," she said. "Women have been at the forefront of the HIV/AIDS response."
Were found out she was HIV positive in 1991, after her husband died of the disease in 1990. Like many others, she felt personally judged after publicly announcing her status. "I think there's still a perception, in a Ugandan context, that we as women are the ones who spread the disease. Women have always been blamed," she said.
Tamale felt that despite being at the forefront of the HIV/AIDS fight, the impact of the epidemic on women had yet to be properly assessed.
On this Women's Day, Were said, she would like to see African leaders "live up to the promises they've made to make a change in the lives of women. As women, we want to see that change."
gg/ks/he
Source: http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77177
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Quarter of HIV positive women want babies
By, United Press International, February 27, 2008
One in four women who test positive for the human immunodefieciency virus, or HIV, want to have babies, U.S. researchers say.
The study findings, published in the journal AIDS and Behavior, show clinicians need to be aware that HIV-positive women may be struggling with decisions about motherhood.
"We shouldn't assume that women aren't going to become pregnant or don't want to become pregnant now that they have HIV. That's an erroneous assumption," study co-author Julianne Serovich of Ohio State University in Columbus said in a statement.
"Clinicians should be routinely discussing pregnancy with HIV-positive women of childbearing age."
In the study, age was as a major factor with nearly 40 percent of women under age 30 and 11 percent over age 30 opting for pregnancy. Other factors that influenced the decision to be a mother included fears about transmitting the disease to her child and concern about her own health.
The researchers collected questionnaires about pregnancy decisions from 74 women who were participants in a larger, long-term study exploring women's HIV disclosure decisions and mental health. This study emerged from interviewers' observations that participants were talking about pregnancy and sometimes becoming pregnant.
Source: http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Health/2008/02/27/quarter_of_hiv_positive_women_want_babies/5397/
One in four women who test positive for the human immunodefieciency virus, or HIV, want to have babies, U.S. researchers say.
The study findings, published in the journal AIDS and Behavior, show clinicians need to be aware that HIV-positive women may be struggling with decisions about motherhood.
"We shouldn't assume that women aren't going to become pregnant or don't want to become pregnant now that they have HIV. That's an erroneous assumption," study co-author Julianne Serovich of Ohio State University in Columbus said in a statement.
"Clinicians should be routinely discussing pregnancy with HIV-positive women of childbearing age."
In the study, age was as a major factor with nearly 40 percent of women under age 30 and 11 percent over age 30 opting for pregnancy. Other factors that influenced the decision to be a mother included fears about transmitting the disease to her child and concern about her own health.
The researchers collected questionnaires about pregnancy decisions from 74 women who were participants in a larger, long-term study exploring women's HIV disclosure decisions and mental health. This study emerged from interviewers' observations that participants were talking about pregnancy and sometimes becoming pregnant.
Source: http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Health/2008/02/27/quarter_of_hiv_positive_women_want_babies/5397/
Living with HIV - breaking the stigma
By, Hayden Donnell, North Shore Times, March 11, 2008
Contracting HIV seemed impossible to love-struck 16-year-old Jewel Grimshaw.
"I thought it was a gay disease. I didn’t know the H in HIV stood for human," says the Birkenhead woman.
Now in her early 30s, Ms Grimshaw has been living with HIV for more than a decade.
She contracted it during a three-year romance that started when she was 16.
It wasn’t until after the relationship ended in 1996 that she even considered the possibility she might be infected.
A test done in 1997 found she had been living with the disease for three years without knowing it.
Her former fiance was tested a few months later and diagnosed with full-blown AIDS.
He had been living with the disease for about a decade.
"I just went into complete shock," says Ms Grimshaw. "Then I was angry, then it went to sadness. Then I thought: 'Oh I’ve got to live my life’."
Unlike many women, Ms Grimshaw decided to go public with her diagnosis.
She talked about it openly, even with people she didn’t know well, and attended several support groups who helped her.
Although that degree of openness isn’t for everyone, telling the people closest to you is important, she says.
"I actually told most people that I met.
"Now I regret that but I don’t, because it means I can talk about it.
"A lot of women keep it from their families, keep it from their friends.
"I think it’s quite disgusting they feel they have to do that."
These days Ms Grimshaw is in a long-term relationship and doing a course at Northern Business College in Takapuna.
She doesn’t think of herself as a victim and holds no anger towards the man who gave her the disease.
"At first I’d live my days thinking: 'Oh, I’ve got HIV, I’ve got to live with it’. Now all I think about is: 'Oh, I’ve got to take my pills’."
Her positivity and willingness to talk about the disease has helped her become one of the faces of the national Positive Women campaign.
It is aimed at removing the stigma of HIV and making New Zealanders question their assumptions about those living with the disease.
She wants to help shape a New Zealand where those with the disease are no longer shunned or discriminated against.
"I’ve had to deal with a lot of rejection. People freak out – they don’t understand.
"There is a group of us who got together to try to stop the wrong ideas and the wrong treatment out there."
Almost 2500 people have been diagnosed with HIV in New Zealand since 1985.
Positive Women say the total of those with HIV is closer to 4000, of whom 400 are women.
The rate of heterosexual HIV infection in New Zealand has increased over recent years, to the point where in 2006 it outpaced the rate for homosexual and bisexual men.
Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/4433604a20475.html
Contracting HIV seemed impossible to love-struck 16-year-old Jewel Grimshaw.
"I thought it was a gay disease. I didn’t know the H in HIV stood for human," says the Birkenhead woman.
Now in her early 30s, Ms Grimshaw has been living with HIV for more than a decade.
She contracted it during a three-year romance that started when she was 16.
It wasn’t until after the relationship ended in 1996 that she even considered the possibility she might be infected.
A test done in 1997 found she had been living with the disease for three years without knowing it.
Her former fiance was tested a few months later and diagnosed with full-blown AIDS.
He had been living with the disease for about a decade.
"I just went into complete shock," says Ms Grimshaw. "Then I was angry, then it went to sadness. Then I thought: 'Oh I’ve got to live my life’."
Unlike many women, Ms Grimshaw decided to go public with her diagnosis.
She talked about it openly, even with people she didn’t know well, and attended several support groups who helped her.
Although that degree of openness isn’t for everyone, telling the people closest to you is important, she says.
"I actually told most people that I met.
"Now I regret that but I don’t, because it means I can talk about it.
"A lot of women keep it from their families, keep it from their friends.
"I think it’s quite disgusting they feel they have to do that."
These days Ms Grimshaw is in a long-term relationship and doing a course at Northern Business College in Takapuna.
She doesn’t think of herself as a victim and holds no anger towards the man who gave her the disease.
"At first I’d live my days thinking: 'Oh, I’ve got HIV, I’ve got to live with it’. Now all I think about is: 'Oh, I’ve got to take my pills’."
Her positivity and willingness to talk about the disease has helped her become one of the faces of the national Positive Women campaign.
It is aimed at removing the stigma of HIV and making New Zealanders question their assumptions about those living with the disease.
She wants to help shape a New Zealand where those with the disease are no longer shunned or discriminated against.
"I’ve had to deal with a lot of rejection. People freak out – they don’t understand.
"There is a group of us who got together to try to stop the wrong ideas and the wrong treatment out there."
Almost 2500 people have been diagnosed with HIV in New Zealand since 1985.
Positive Women say the total of those with HIV is closer to 4000, of whom 400 are women.
The rate of heterosexual HIV infection in New Zealand has increased over recent years, to the point where in 2006 it outpaced the rate for homosexual and bisexual men.
Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/4433604a20475.html
HIV/AIDS policy: A war on women
By, Alice Welbourn, ISN, March 12, 2008
International HIV/Aids policy, led by the United States, is discriminating against those it needs to help most.
Numerous countries and foundations are admirably desperate to do something to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS. If a policy or a model law appears that has been produced by respected "expert" institutions, it is quite understandable that they will rush to make use of them. But what if those policies or laws, although well intentioned in principle, do not work in practice? This is exactly what is happening in the international response to HIV, where a crisis is developing which is increasingly eroding the rights of women. Public health policies and legislation are being introduced which are not actually rooted in women's experiences. As a consequence, their implementation is at huge cost to women, who in their role as primary unpaid carers of their sick relatives, have in fact formed the backbone of the Aids response in the most affected communities.
The 'feminization' of AIDS
Dr Rashid Abdulai of the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine, Ghana illustrates the public health dimension of this crisis with a case study:
"In an HIV sentinel site in Zabzugu, a small remote town in Northern Ghana, Memunatu is pregnant for a third time. She has been advised to take an HIV test. She apparently does not know much about the course and outcome of HIV as a disease. She is tested positive.
Apparently she got it from her husband who had taken tubers of yam to sell in Accra. None of her two children tested positive to the virus. She was advised to come to the hospital with the husband for counseling, which she did. The husband declined when advised to take the test. When they returned home, the woman was branded bad, prostitute, unchaste, and her family was branded as a witches' family. This marked the end of the marriage.
Five years later, as a result of poverty, poor sanitation, malnutrition, constant decline in immunity due to the infection, the woman gets sick very often. She was taken to a nearby village to see the native doctor for treatment. A year later, she died."
According to Dr Abdulai, this story is "the normal scenario for most societies in Africa." As a medical practitioner, he himself "would go in for a legislature that binds every pregnant woman to take an HIV test [...]. But the question is, after knowing the results what responsibility do health and state institutions have for the welfare of people in similar socio-economic situations like Memunatu? [...[ It means nothing taking an HIV test if the individual, society or state is not prepared to support HIV patients to live normal and healthy lives [...]."
Dr Abdulai's concerns are echoed by Human Rights Watch (HRW) in Zambia and by many members of the International Community of Women living with HIV and AIDS (ICW) across Africa, Asia and beyond. A December 2007 report by HRW, Hidden in the Mealie Meal: gender-based abuses and women's HIV treatment in Zambia states:
"Gender-specific barriers that impede Zambian women's ability to seek HIV information or start and continue using ART (HIV drugs) include: violence and the fear of violence by intimate partners, the fear of abandonment and divorce in an environment where women suffer insecure property rights, and property grabbing upon the death of a spouse. These abuses occur in the context of poverty and of a culture that condones male authority and control over women. The final result can be severe [...] with dreadful impact on their health and their lives."
"AIDS-free generation"
So testing a pregnant woman can carry many risks to her, her older children and any unborn child. But the impetus for ante-natal testing comes from a new drive to create an "AIDS-free generation" promoted by Unicef, the WHO, and other UN agencies, with the backing of the Bush regime. Some UN officials, who fear being named, have expressed great concern about the continued perception of women "as vessels and vectors" rather than as thinking, caring responsible human beings, on whose healthy lives their children's futures best depend. This quick fix "tick-box approach" has seen qualitative aspects of health care for women - and their children - evaporate.
Newly introduced legislation is making the situation worse. Further promoting this public health policy, another US government-led initiative is quietly promoting a "model AIDS law" in francophone and lusophone Africa - and other countries with limited links to women's rights activism or to international human rights networks, and are therefore most easy to target. In Sierra Leone, HIV transmission from a woman to her unborn child has become a criminal offence. Here a woman can now face a fine or up to seven years jail - or both for that offence. Hardly great for her child's survival - or that of her older children - or indeed the woman herself.
The model law also promotes the idea that health workers should have the right to disclose a woman's HIV status to her husband six weeks after diagnosis. Such decrees violate human rights principles, including UNAIDS' own guidelines on testing and disclosure. There are clearly plans to roll out this law to other African countries. In December, Malawi announced plans to make testing of all pregnant women compulsory. Izeduwa Derex-Briggs, HIV/AIDS specialist with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), argued that if the law was passed it would infringe the rights of Malawian women: "Such a law would be discriminatory. Why should it target women and not men?"
A point of contrast here is with the treatment of circumcised men in similar countries. Although male circumcision is now known to protect men against HIV, despite recent reports of the huge risk of HIV transmission from newly circumcised males to their female partners, there are no plans afoot to make testing of men being circumcised compulsory. There is an imbalance both in public health policy and in legislation, which tips the scales heavily against women.
The crisis "at home"
And there lies the crux. This policy and law have their roots in US domestic policy for HIV, which is dealing with another AIDS crisis. In some parts of the US, HIV prevalence is equivalent to parts of Africa. 82 percent of all women with HIV in the United States are Black and Latina women (pdf). AIDS is now the leading cause of death for African-American women aged between 25 and 44. Here too, "voluntary" testing of pregnant women, like Memunatu in Ghana, has become the norm. But even though testing might not be compulsory yet, it does not have to be mandatory to be involuntary.
When the state of Michigan started "routine, opt-out HIV testing" for pregnant women, an American Civil Liberties Union study (pdf) examining its effects found that "fewer than half of the women felt very comfortable refusing testing, and one in five did not feel at all comfortable refusing HIV testing". Women who were unemployed, younger or with less prior contact with the healthcare system found it even harder to refuse the test. In Arkansas, which also has an opt-out testing program that doesn't require written consent - which is true for most of Africa and Asia - the study found that "16 percent of women tested did not even know that they had been tested for HIV." Rose Saxe of ACLU warned that without written consent, 'routine testing' will, in practice, quickly become 'mandatory' testing.
ACLU and others also know that women who are tested without consent are less likely to get the follow-up care that is critical to maintaining good health. Women who are tested because it is mandatory are less likely to be prepared for a positive diagnosis and seek follow-up care than those who choose to be tested. "Whilst the authorities should be commended for trying to increase the number of people tested for HIV, eliminating the only safeguards that guarantee that testing is voluntary and informed does little to ensure that people will receive the care they need" concludes the report.
Positive testing
As someone who myself tested positive for HIV when I was pregnant 16 years ago, when I had no idea that I might be since I felt fit and well, I offer my own experiences. Even though I - exceptionally - had excellent supportive care both from my partner and my physicians, to receive a diagnosis of this enormity when pregnant is quite devastating, and should be acceptable only as a last resort rather than as mainstream public health policy or law. Instead funds should be focused on promoting community-wide, genuinely voluntary testing, so that women - and men - can learn about their status before rather than after conception, and feel wholly supported if they test positive.
One way attitudes could change is for all government institutions around the world, including health ministries and parliaments, to promote the invaluable contribution of their own senior personnel who are already HIV positive to the ongoing work of government institutions. If they in turn - many of them heterosexual men - then felt supported to disclose their status publicly, the huge global gender bias which targets women for testing, test-related violence and rejection - and which then produces more AIDS-related orphans - could begin to be redressed.
You may laugh, but it is no more preposterous than the idea of targeting women to be tested - and uncovering all kinds of secrets, lies and gender-based power imbalances in the process - when they are most psychologically, physically and materially vulnerable.
Even in the West, most people experience immense shock on diagnosis and still believe that this means their death is imminent. The liminality of pregnancy and giving birth are one of the key universal rites of passage which define a woman's life in most of the world. This is a time of deep emotion and intimacy, as a woman grows in touch with the unique wonders of creation unfolding inside her being. Yet global public health policy, promoted by the UN - and now legislation too, promoted by the United States - seem to target women at this intensely fragile time.
Women in several countries have also reported that, once diagnosed, they have been unknowingly, and forcibly sterilized, so that they never have the chance to become pregnant. And this despite the fact that, with the right drugs, there can be a less than 2 percent chance of the virus being passed to a baby. Indeed, in Britain, many positive women are giving birth to perfectly healthy babies.
Laws and policies to curb HIV shouldn't - and mustn't - damage HIV positive women's rights to choose when to have sex or not, nor to choose whether or not to have children. Nor should they damage their children's rights to have a healthy happy mother. After all, the best security for child survival is a healthy, educated and happy mother. We need to use effective humane means to create policies, laws and practices that work for individuals not against them, and uphold their human rights.
Positive change
ICW, with the Center for the Study of Aids, Mary Robinson's Ethical Globalization Initiative, and the International Center for Research on Women, coordinated a ground-breaking "Parliamentarians for Women's Health" project in four African countries. Jennifer Gatsi, ICW's Namibia National Coordinator, facilitates joint regional workshops between parliamentarians and HIV positive women's representatives. "These women have been able to take their collective, politicised experiences to an audience which has the power to create legislative change" reports Gatsi.
Personally the project has hugely promoted the women's self esteem.. Framing their concerns as political issues, they have also been "taken seriously on the political level." A committed group of MPs have also benefited from the program in terms of having their eyes opened to the reality of what it means for an entire community, especially the women in that community, to be affected by HIV and AIDS as well as other health issues. They are now ready to represent some of those issues in parliament: "The experience has made me promise myself: [...] I must do something." - Honourable Ida Hoffman
It's not rocket science to introduce this kind of program. It does need immense courage and determination for the positive women involved to overcome the stigma that they have faced in their own lives and to decide to embrace the horrors of their own experiences so that others don't have to go through what they did.
It is said you can tell the level of civilization of a country by the state of its prisons. I believe you can also judge it by how it treats its women and children. What we have now is a very disturbing spread of judgmental, punitive laws and policies, concocted in board rooms by parliaments, civil servants and public health officers, most of them male, who assume more rights over what happens to women's bodies than we have ourselves. 2008 is the 60th anniversary of the UN Declaration of Human Rights. No-one wants an "Aids-free generation" more than we HIV-positive women ourselves. On the eve of International Women's Day this year, I dream that rather than the spread of HIV, or of more oppressive laws against women, things will change. I propose that we all start to take heed of, to listen to, learn from and act on the courage, wisdom and plain humanity of such women as Jennifer Gatsi and her colleagues. If we all acted on their visions, then policies and laws could be just and humane, treating them, their bodies - and their children - with the respect and dignity which is their right, rooted in the real world of their experiences. An AIDS-free generation is possible, if only we all learn to listen to those who most want it for their children.
Source: http://www.isn.ethz.ch/news/sw/details.cfm?ID=18751
International HIV/Aids policy, led by the United States, is discriminating against those it needs to help most.
Numerous countries and foundations are admirably desperate to do something to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS. If a policy or a model law appears that has been produced by respected "expert" institutions, it is quite understandable that they will rush to make use of them. But what if those policies or laws, although well intentioned in principle, do not work in practice? This is exactly what is happening in the international response to HIV, where a crisis is developing which is increasingly eroding the rights of women. Public health policies and legislation are being introduced which are not actually rooted in women's experiences. As a consequence, their implementation is at huge cost to women, who in their role as primary unpaid carers of their sick relatives, have in fact formed the backbone of the Aids response in the most affected communities.
The 'feminization' of AIDS
Dr Rashid Abdulai of the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine, Ghana illustrates the public health dimension of this crisis with a case study:
"In an HIV sentinel site in Zabzugu, a small remote town in Northern Ghana, Memunatu is pregnant for a third time. She has been advised to take an HIV test. She apparently does not know much about the course and outcome of HIV as a disease. She is tested positive.
Apparently she got it from her husband who had taken tubers of yam to sell in Accra. None of her two children tested positive to the virus. She was advised to come to the hospital with the husband for counseling, which she did. The husband declined when advised to take the test. When they returned home, the woman was branded bad, prostitute, unchaste, and her family was branded as a witches' family. This marked the end of the marriage.
Five years later, as a result of poverty, poor sanitation, malnutrition, constant decline in immunity due to the infection, the woman gets sick very often. She was taken to a nearby village to see the native doctor for treatment. A year later, she died."
According to Dr Abdulai, this story is "the normal scenario for most societies in Africa." As a medical practitioner, he himself "would go in for a legislature that binds every pregnant woman to take an HIV test [...]. But the question is, after knowing the results what responsibility do health and state institutions have for the welfare of people in similar socio-economic situations like Memunatu? [...[ It means nothing taking an HIV test if the individual, society or state is not prepared to support HIV patients to live normal and healthy lives [...]."
Dr Abdulai's concerns are echoed by Human Rights Watch (HRW) in Zambia and by many members of the International Community of Women living with HIV and AIDS (ICW) across Africa, Asia and beyond. A December 2007 report by HRW, Hidden in the Mealie Meal: gender-based abuses and women's HIV treatment in Zambia states:
"Gender-specific barriers that impede Zambian women's ability to seek HIV information or start and continue using ART (HIV drugs) include: violence and the fear of violence by intimate partners, the fear of abandonment and divorce in an environment where women suffer insecure property rights, and property grabbing upon the death of a spouse. These abuses occur in the context of poverty and of a culture that condones male authority and control over women. The final result can be severe [...] with dreadful impact on their health and their lives."
"AIDS-free generation"
So testing a pregnant woman can carry many risks to her, her older children and any unborn child. But the impetus for ante-natal testing comes from a new drive to create an "AIDS-free generation" promoted by Unicef, the WHO, and other UN agencies, with the backing of the Bush regime. Some UN officials, who fear being named, have expressed great concern about the continued perception of women "as vessels and vectors" rather than as thinking, caring responsible human beings, on whose healthy lives their children's futures best depend. This quick fix "tick-box approach" has seen qualitative aspects of health care for women - and their children - evaporate.
Newly introduced legislation is making the situation worse. Further promoting this public health policy, another US government-led initiative is quietly promoting a "model AIDS law" in francophone and lusophone Africa - and other countries with limited links to women's rights activism or to international human rights networks, and are therefore most easy to target. In Sierra Leone, HIV transmission from a woman to her unborn child has become a criminal offence. Here a woman can now face a fine or up to seven years jail - or both for that offence. Hardly great for her child's survival - or that of her older children - or indeed the woman herself.
The model law also promotes the idea that health workers should have the right to disclose a woman's HIV status to her husband six weeks after diagnosis. Such decrees violate human rights principles, including UNAIDS' own guidelines on testing and disclosure. There are clearly plans to roll out this law to other African countries. In December, Malawi announced plans to make testing of all pregnant women compulsory. Izeduwa Derex-Briggs, HIV/AIDS specialist with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), argued that if the law was passed it would infringe the rights of Malawian women: "Such a law would be discriminatory. Why should it target women and not men?"
A point of contrast here is with the treatment of circumcised men in similar countries. Although male circumcision is now known to protect men against HIV, despite recent reports of the huge risk of HIV transmission from newly circumcised males to their female partners, there are no plans afoot to make testing of men being circumcised compulsory. There is an imbalance both in public health policy and in legislation, which tips the scales heavily against women.
The crisis "at home"
And there lies the crux. This policy and law have their roots in US domestic policy for HIV, which is dealing with another AIDS crisis. In some parts of the US, HIV prevalence is equivalent to parts of Africa. 82 percent of all women with HIV in the United States are Black and Latina women (pdf). AIDS is now the leading cause of death for African-American women aged between 25 and 44. Here too, "voluntary" testing of pregnant women, like Memunatu in Ghana, has become the norm. But even though testing might not be compulsory yet, it does not have to be mandatory to be involuntary.
When the state of Michigan started "routine, opt-out HIV testing" for pregnant women, an American Civil Liberties Union study (pdf) examining its effects found that "fewer than half of the women felt very comfortable refusing testing, and one in five did not feel at all comfortable refusing HIV testing". Women who were unemployed, younger or with less prior contact with the healthcare system found it even harder to refuse the test. In Arkansas, which also has an opt-out testing program that doesn't require written consent - which is true for most of Africa and Asia - the study found that "16 percent of women tested did not even know that they had been tested for HIV." Rose Saxe of ACLU warned that without written consent, 'routine testing' will, in practice, quickly become 'mandatory' testing.
ACLU and others also know that women who are tested without consent are less likely to get the follow-up care that is critical to maintaining good health. Women who are tested because it is mandatory are less likely to be prepared for a positive diagnosis and seek follow-up care than those who choose to be tested. "Whilst the authorities should be commended for trying to increase the number of people tested for HIV, eliminating the only safeguards that guarantee that testing is voluntary and informed does little to ensure that people will receive the care they need" concludes the report.
Positive testing
As someone who myself tested positive for HIV when I was pregnant 16 years ago, when I had no idea that I might be since I felt fit and well, I offer my own experiences. Even though I - exceptionally - had excellent supportive care both from my partner and my physicians, to receive a diagnosis of this enormity when pregnant is quite devastating, and should be acceptable only as a last resort rather than as mainstream public health policy or law. Instead funds should be focused on promoting community-wide, genuinely voluntary testing, so that women - and men - can learn about their status before rather than after conception, and feel wholly supported if they test positive.
One way attitudes could change is for all government institutions around the world, including health ministries and parliaments, to promote the invaluable contribution of their own senior personnel who are already HIV positive to the ongoing work of government institutions. If they in turn - many of them heterosexual men - then felt supported to disclose their status publicly, the huge global gender bias which targets women for testing, test-related violence and rejection - and which then produces more AIDS-related orphans - could begin to be redressed.
You may laugh, but it is no more preposterous than the idea of targeting women to be tested - and uncovering all kinds of secrets, lies and gender-based power imbalances in the process - when they are most psychologically, physically and materially vulnerable.
Even in the West, most people experience immense shock on diagnosis and still believe that this means their death is imminent. The liminality of pregnancy and giving birth are one of the key universal rites of passage which define a woman's life in most of the world. This is a time of deep emotion and intimacy, as a woman grows in touch with the unique wonders of creation unfolding inside her being. Yet global public health policy, promoted by the UN - and now legislation too, promoted by the United States - seem to target women at this intensely fragile time.
Women in several countries have also reported that, once diagnosed, they have been unknowingly, and forcibly sterilized, so that they never have the chance to become pregnant. And this despite the fact that, with the right drugs, there can be a less than 2 percent chance of the virus being passed to a baby. Indeed, in Britain, many positive women are giving birth to perfectly healthy babies.
Laws and policies to curb HIV shouldn't - and mustn't - damage HIV positive women's rights to choose when to have sex or not, nor to choose whether or not to have children. Nor should they damage their children's rights to have a healthy happy mother. After all, the best security for child survival is a healthy, educated and happy mother. We need to use effective humane means to create policies, laws and practices that work for individuals not against them, and uphold their human rights.
Positive change
ICW, with the Center for the Study of Aids, Mary Robinson's Ethical Globalization Initiative, and the International Center for Research on Women, coordinated a ground-breaking "Parliamentarians for Women's Health" project in four African countries. Jennifer Gatsi, ICW's Namibia National Coordinator, facilitates joint regional workshops between parliamentarians and HIV positive women's representatives. "These women have been able to take their collective, politicised experiences to an audience which has the power to create legislative change" reports Gatsi.
Personally the project has hugely promoted the women's self esteem.. Framing their concerns as political issues, they have also been "taken seriously on the political level." A committed group of MPs have also benefited from the program in terms of having their eyes opened to the reality of what it means for an entire community, especially the women in that community, to be affected by HIV and AIDS as well as other health issues. They are now ready to represent some of those issues in parliament: "The experience has made me promise myself: [...] I must do something." - Honourable Ida Hoffman
It's not rocket science to introduce this kind of program. It does need immense courage and determination for the positive women involved to overcome the stigma that they have faced in their own lives and to decide to embrace the horrors of their own experiences so that others don't have to go through what they did.
It is said you can tell the level of civilization of a country by the state of its prisons. I believe you can also judge it by how it treats its women and children. What we have now is a very disturbing spread of judgmental, punitive laws and policies, concocted in board rooms by parliaments, civil servants and public health officers, most of them male, who assume more rights over what happens to women's bodies than we have ourselves. 2008 is the 60th anniversary of the UN Declaration of Human Rights. No-one wants an "Aids-free generation" more than we HIV-positive women ourselves. On the eve of International Women's Day this year, I dream that rather than the spread of HIV, or of more oppressive laws against women, things will change. I propose that we all start to take heed of, to listen to, learn from and act on the courage, wisdom and plain humanity of such women as Jennifer Gatsi and her colleagues. If we all acted on their visions, then policies and laws could be just and humane, treating them, their bodies - and their children - with the respect and dignity which is their right, rooted in the real world of their experiences. An AIDS-free generation is possible, if only we all learn to listen to those who most want it for their children.
Source: http://www.isn.ethz.ch/news/sw/details.cfm?ID=18751
Zimbabwe: 'Protection of Women Vital'
By, The Herald (Harare), March 13, 2008
Southern Africa HIV and Aids Information Dissemination Services has commended Government for enacting laws and policies that protect women and advance gender issues in the country.
In a message to mark International Women's Day last Saturday, SafAids executive director Mrs Lois Chingandu singled out the Domestic Violence Act in Zimbabwe.
The enactment, she said, was in line with efforts to protect women in the region like what happened in South Africa and Mozambique.
Mrs Chingandu also noted the ascendancy of women to top political positions in the region such as vice-presidents in Zimbabwe and South Africa and Prime Minister in Mozambique, as a major step towards the emancipation of women.
"It is important to note this year that as women we have come a long way in terms of legislation and policy. Let us make sure that all these strides work for the advancement and promotion of women's cause," she said.
However, the organisation was quick to note that despite the strides made in the past years, resources channelled towards women's empowerment continue to dwindle owing to stiff competition from other social programmes.
She said faced with stiff competition from other programmes such as male circumcision, treatment, arms and equipment, among others, it was likely that women will not access both treatment and prevention of HIV and Aids services unless they are empowered.
"Empowerment should not only be about big projects that will ensure women cannot only feed their families, but about supporting women to reach and occupy leadership positions in business and in the community."
Mrs Chingandu said African women were still suffering from an inferiority complex precipitated by cultures and beliefs resulting in continuation of gender-based violence.
She said due to inferiority complex, women were still unable to negotiate for safer sex and have no power over their reproductive health and rights.
"There is need to empower women so that they can begin to challenge the status quo, culture and tradition that has ingrained in them this belief that they should not speak out even if they are being violated," Mrs Chingandu said.
In the past two years, SafAids has been looking at the linkage between culture, women's rights, HIV and Aids.
Mrs Chingandu reiterated that cultural values like forced virginity testing, polygamy, wife inheritance and the belief that a woman is not good enough unless she is married and has children, should be addressed.
International Women's Day commemorations have been scheduled for Friday and will run under the theme "Investing in Women and Girls" with a focus on financing for gender equality and empowerment of women.
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/200803130132.html
Southern Africa HIV and Aids Information Dissemination Services has commended Government for enacting laws and policies that protect women and advance gender issues in the country.
In a message to mark International Women's Day last Saturday, SafAids executive director Mrs Lois Chingandu singled out the Domestic Violence Act in Zimbabwe.
The enactment, she said, was in line with efforts to protect women in the region like what happened in South Africa and Mozambique.
Mrs Chingandu also noted the ascendancy of women to top political positions in the region such as vice-presidents in Zimbabwe and South Africa and Prime Minister in Mozambique, as a major step towards the emancipation of women.
"It is important to note this year that as women we have come a long way in terms of legislation and policy. Let us make sure that all these strides work for the advancement and promotion of women's cause," she said.
However, the organisation was quick to note that despite the strides made in the past years, resources channelled towards women's empowerment continue to dwindle owing to stiff competition from other social programmes.
She said faced with stiff competition from other programmes such as male circumcision, treatment, arms and equipment, among others, it was likely that women will not access both treatment and prevention of HIV and Aids services unless they are empowered.
"Empowerment should not only be about big projects that will ensure women cannot only feed their families, but about supporting women to reach and occupy leadership positions in business and in the community."
Mrs Chingandu said African women were still suffering from an inferiority complex precipitated by cultures and beliefs resulting in continuation of gender-based violence.
She said due to inferiority complex, women were still unable to negotiate for safer sex and have no power over their reproductive health and rights.
"There is need to empower women so that they can begin to challenge the status quo, culture and tradition that has ingrained in them this belief that they should not speak out even if they are being violated," Mrs Chingandu said.
In the past two years, SafAids has been looking at the linkage between culture, women's rights, HIV and Aids.
Mrs Chingandu reiterated that cultural values like forced virginity testing, polygamy, wife inheritance and the belief that a woman is not good enough unless she is married and has children, should be addressed.
International Women's Day commemorations have been scheduled for Friday and will run under the theme "Investing in Women and Girls" with a focus on financing for gender equality and empowerment of women.
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/200803130132.html
Women's sexual abuse stance ...chances of HIV infection greatly increased
By, Camille Bethel, Trinidad News, March 13, 2008
Women are now more susceptible to being infected with HIV due to their weak stance against sexual abuse, chairman of the National Aids Coordinating Committee (NACC), Angela Lee-Loy, has said.
She made the comment during a Ministry of Social Development symposium, titled "An Agenda for Action on Women and HIV", at City Hall, Port of Spain, yesterday.
"A fear of violence or abandonment often prevents women from discussing fidelity or negotiating condemn use with their partner," Lee-Loy said.
The constant threat of violence, she added, makes women feel vulnerable and allows men to maintain control of both decisions of when and how they have sex.
"Many women in Trinidad and Tobago have very little say over when they have sex and with whom. Violence against women and girls is relatively wide spread in Trinidad and Tobago."
She explained that this was often the case because men are usually the ones with financial power, physical strength and the ability to demand sexual relations with women.
"Children and adolescents, particularly girls, are frequently abused by their step-fathers, mothers...and grown men in their environment.
She said a 2006-2007 survey conducted by the UWI Faculty of Medical Science, on the attitudes, practices and behaviour among 16-49 year old females in Trinidad and Tobago, showed that 11 per cent of those surveyed reported having their first sexual encounter even though they did not want to.
Another 87 per cent of women meanwhile said their first sexual encounter was with a partner older than themselves.
In T&T in 2006, 60 per cent of the new HIV reported cases in the 15-34 age group occurred in women, she added.
"Research has found that violence contributes both directly and indirectly to the vulnerability of women to HIV, because violent sexual acts can cause vaginal lacerations, increasing the risk of transmission of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI's) including HIV."
Lee-Loy said there was also sexual double standard that prevails in Trinbagonian society, where men are expected to have multiple sexual partners while women are expected to be faithful to their partners and family.
"Marriage does not guarantee women protection against exposure to HIV, their risk of infection is determined by the sexual behaviour of their partner..."
HIV positive women are often subjected to discrimination, she added, as Aids is often viewed as a punishment for immorality.
She said these women also suffer violations of their human rights through loss of employment.
Source: http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=161292782
Women are now more susceptible to being infected with HIV due to their weak stance against sexual abuse, chairman of the National Aids Coordinating Committee (NACC), Angela Lee-Loy, has said.
She made the comment during a Ministry of Social Development symposium, titled "An Agenda for Action on Women and HIV", at City Hall, Port of Spain, yesterday.
"A fear of violence or abandonment often prevents women from discussing fidelity or negotiating condemn use with their partner," Lee-Loy said.
The constant threat of violence, she added, makes women feel vulnerable and allows men to maintain control of both decisions of when and how they have sex.
"Many women in Trinidad and Tobago have very little say over when they have sex and with whom. Violence against women and girls is relatively wide spread in Trinidad and Tobago."
She explained that this was often the case because men are usually the ones with financial power, physical strength and the ability to demand sexual relations with women.
"Children and adolescents, particularly girls, are frequently abused by their step-fathers, mothers...and grown men in their environment.
She said a 2006-2007 survey conducted by the UWI Faculty of Medical Science, on the attitudes, practices and behaviour among 16-49 year old females in Trinidad and Tobago, showed that 11 per cent of those surveyed reported having their first sexual encounter even though they did not want to.
Another 87 per cent of women meanwhile said their first sexual encounter was with a partner older than themselves.
In T&T in 2006, 60 per cent of the new HIV reported cases in the 15-34 age group occurred in women, she added.
"Research has found that violence contributes both directly and indirectly to the vulnerability of women to HIV, because violent sexual acts can cause vaginal lacerations, increasing the risk of transmission of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI's) including HIV."
Lee-Loy said there was also sexual double standard that prevails in Trinbagonian society, where men are expected to have multiple sexual partners while women are expected to be faithful to their partners and family.
"Marriage does not guarantee women protection against exposure to HIV, their risk of infection is determined by the sexual behaviour of their partner..."
HIV positive women are often subjected to discrimination, she added, as Aids is often viewed as a punishment for immorality.
She said these women also suffer violations of their human rights through loss of employment.
Source: http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=161292782
Women’s awareness vital to preventing HIV/AIDS
By, Saadia Khalid, Daily Times, March 4, 2008
ISLAMABAD: Women should be educated on prevention of HIV/AIDS as they are at increased risk of this deadly disease due to behavior of their male partners, said participants of a workshop “Women-Focused Capacity Building on Advocacy and Awareness Raising about HIV/AIDS and Gender” on Monday.
All Pakistan Women’s Association (APWA) in collaboration with United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) organised the two- day workshop to provide a platform for capacity building of NGOs and civil society organisations on women HIV/AIDS related issues.
Vulnerability: The participants said women were more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS infection due to biological and socio-economic factors including poor personal hygiene, low literacy rate, less mobility, poor access to health facility and lack of decision making power for safer sex.
Unsafe sex: They said women should be educated on negotiation for safe sex as they could transmit the disease to foetus or newborn baby.
They were of the view that ignorance on part of male partner could be disastrous, as he could not only infect his spouse but also his children. “Unsafe sex by male partners with commercial sex workers, already HIV positive, could transmit the virus to their spouses,” they said.
Intravenous drug users: They pointed out that unsafe sex and intravenous drug use were main causes of the virus transmission to others including to their spouses. “As many as 17 percent wives had been diagnosed HIV positive as their husbands were injection drug users,” they said.
Registered cases: National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) Representative Dr Hassan Abbas Zaheer said there were 4,000 registered HIV/AIDS cases in Pakistan. However, the estimated number of these patients was 80,000 with 15,000 women, he added.
“The cases of HIV/AIDS are comparatively less in Pakistan as compared to other countries where it had been transmitted to general public, while in Pakistan this infection is confined to some specific strata of society,” he said.
“During a research in 13 cities the number of HIV infected patients was highest in Sargodha where 51 percent intravenous drug users were HIV infected and 17 women (wives of these drug users) were also found HIV positive,” he added.
High-risk country: He said four years ago Pakistan was one of the low HIV/AIDS prevalent countries but now it has turned into low HIV prevalent high-risk country.
Dr Ayesha Khan of NACP said that the research in different cities indicated that women were more aware of the disease and its preventive measures. “Sixty-three percent female sex workers use preventive measures in comparison with 52 percent males, 100 percent infected women seek care while only 37 percent male seek medical assistance,” she said.
Immigrants: Khan pointed out that immigrants, who were exposed to unprotected sexual contact with HIV/AIDS infected persons abroad, were another source of spreading the disease as they transmitted it to their spouses on their return to home.
UNIFEM Gender Advisor Meagen Baldwin said it was a misconception that HIV/AIDS did not transmit to a married woman. “Most of the HIV positive women are infected from heterosexual sex or through their marital partners,” she said.
Family planning policy: Baldwin said women in countries like Pakistan were not aware of sexually transmitted infections and hence were more vulnerable to such diseases. “The family planning clinics in Pakistan focus on birth control or birth spacing but impart less information to people on safe sex methods,” she said.
UNFPA Representative Dr France Douney said poverty and lack of economic opportunities were leaving women with no option to earn their livelihood except becoming sex workers and hence making them vulnerable to such diseases.
“The information regarding HIV/AIDS should be included into family planning policy and health workers should be trained to guide others about prevention of sexually transmitted infections.
Source: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C03%5C04%5Cstory_4-3-2008_pg11_1
ISLAMABAD: Women should be educated on prevention of HIV/AIDS as they are at increased risk of this deadly disease due to behavior of their male partners, said participants of a workshop “Women-Focused Capacity Building on Advocacy and Awareness Raising about HIV/AIDS and Gender” on Monday.
All Pakistan Women’s Association (APWA) in collaboration with United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) organised the two- day workshop to provide a platform for capacity building of NGOs and civil society organisations on women HIV/AIDS related issues.
Vulnerability: The participants said women were more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS infection due to biological and socio-economic factors including poor personal hygiene, low literacy rate, less mobility, poor access to health facility and lack of decision making power for safer sex.
Unsafe sex: They said women should be educated on negotiation for safe sex as they could transmit the disease to foetus or newborn baby.
They were of the view that ignorance on part of male partner could be disastrous, as he could not only infect his spouse but also his children. “Unsafe sex by male partners with commercial sex workers, already HIV positive, could transmit the virus to their spouses,” they said.
Intravenous drug users: They pointed out that unsafe sex and intravenous drug use were main causes of the virus transmission to others including to their spouses. “As many as 17 percent wives had been diagnosed HIV positive as their husbands were injection drug users,” they said.
Registered cases: National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) Representative Dr Hassan Abbas Zaheer said there were 4,000 registered HIV/AIDS cases in Pakistan. However, the estimated number of these patients was 80,000 with 15,000 women, he added.
“The cases of HIV/AIDS are comparatively less in Pakistan as compared to other countries where it had been transmitted to general public, while in Pakistan this infection is confined to some specific strata of society,” he said.
“During a research in 13 cities the number of HIV infected patients was highest in Sargodha where 51 percent intravenous drug users were HIV infected and 17 women (wives of these drug users) were also found HIV positive,” he added.
High-risk country: He said four years ago Pakistan was one of the low HIV/AIDS prevalent countries but now it has turned into low HIV prevalent high-risk country.
Dr Ayesha Khan of NACP said that the research in different cities indicated that women were more aware of the disease and its preventive measures. “Sixty-three percent female sex workers use preventive measures in comparison with 52 percent males, 100 percent infected women seek care while only 37 percent male seek medical assistance,” she said.
Immigrants: Khan pointed out that immigrants, who were exposed to unprotected sexual contact with HIV/AIDS infected persons abroad, were another source of spreading the disease as they transmitted it to their spouses on their return to home.
UNIFEM Gender Advisor Meagen Baldwin said it was a misconception that HIV/AIDS did not transmit to a married woman. “Most of the HIV positive women are infected from heterosexual sex or through their marital partners,” she said.
Family planning policy: Baldwin said women in countries like Pakistan were not aware of sexually transmitted infections and hence were more vulnerable to such diseases. “The family planning clinics in Pakistan focus on birth control or birth spacing but impart less information to people on safe sex methods,” she said.
UNFPA Representative Dr France Douney said poverty and lack of economic opportunities were leaving women with no option to earn their livelihood except becoming sex workers and hence making them vulnerable to such diseases.
“The information regarding HIV/AIDS should be included into family planning policy and health workers should be trained to guide others about prevention of sexually transmitted infections.
Source: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C03%5C04%5Cstory_4-3-2008_pg11_1
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