UN warns HIV/Aids leading cause of death in women
The UN programme on HIV/Aids says HIV has become the leading cause of death and disease among women of reproductive age worldwide. At the start of a ten-day conference in New York, UNAids launched a five-year action plan addressing the gender issues which put women at risk. One of the key issues, it says, is that up to 70% of women worldwide have been forced to have unprotected sex. UNAids says such violence against women must not be tolerated. "By robbing them of their dignity, we are losing the opportunity to tap half the potential of mankind to achieve the Millennium Development Goals," said Executive Director Michel Sidibe.
"Women and girls are not victims, they are the driving force that brings about social transformation," he said.
The agency says that experiencing violence hampers women's ability to negotiate safe sex.
It warns that, nearly 30 years from the beginning of the epidemic, HIV services do not respond to the specific needs of women and girls. Women, it says, continue to be disproportionately affected by HIV/Aids. In sub-Saharan Africa, 60% of those living with HIV are women and in Southern Africa, for example, young women are about three times as likely to be infected with HIV than young men of the same age. The programme - which will include improving data collection and analysis of how the epidemic affects women, and ensuring the issue of violence against women is integrated into HIV prevention programmes - will be rolled out in countries including Liberia.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8546655.stm
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On forced unprotected sex
In regards to Linda Nsembu's comment on whether forcing a woman to have unprotected sex, I believe that in the case of when the man is aware of his positive status, and forces unprotected sex, some countries have enacted legislation to make it criminal. Which countries and what precisely are the laws I do not know, but a comparative list on this would be useful to see. Any ideas on where this might be had would be kindly welcomed. Winnie Masha
Forced to have unprotected sex
I wish to know if being forced to have unprotected sex in a high HIV prevalence country could be considered a violation of human rights. I think it should be.
Tanzania - Showing the way forward
Merging family planning and HIV services
A Tanzanian project is integrating family planning and HIV messages via community health workers who teach HIV-positive couples how to avoid unwanted pregnancies or infecting their unborn children. “I talk to them and they tell me they are afraid,” Margaret Mapunda, a trained community health worker in Tanzania’s commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, told IRIN/PlusNews. “Some want [children] but they don’t know what to do and just conceive and go to traditional birth attendants to deliver. “Many are taking antiretrovirals and they don’t even know which contraceptives are good and bad,” she added. “They do not ask because of stigma. Some say they are abused at health facilities.” Since 2008, more than 3,000 couples have received family planning services from home-based care service providers in the areas of Dar es Salaam, Arusha and Kilimanjaro under the Tutunzane – Swahili for “let’s care for each other” - project, run by reproductive health NGO, Pathfinder International. Family planning needs A 2009 study conducted in the northern Tanzanian region of Mwanza and published in the journal, AIDS, found numerous potential benefits of offering family planning counselling as a part of antenatal services, particularly in clinics offering HIV testing. According to Children and AIDS, Fourth Stock Taking Report 2009, by the UN Children’s Fund, as many as 130,000 HIV-positive Tanzanian women become pregnant every year; 53 percent of these have access to prevention of mother-to-child transmission services. A study carried out by Pathfinder International in 2008 found that 90 percent of home-based care providers were willing to add family planning services to their activities but lacked adequate training. So far the project has trained about 250 community health workers to integrate family planning messages into their HIV counselling. “Community home-based care service providers are very low cost and they interact more with people living with HIV than anybody else; they therefore provide a perfect opportunity to reach out to them, including with family planning services,” said Judith Rwakyendela, reproductive health and family planning programme officer at Pathfinder International.
“When you give people antiretrovirals, the objective is to make them live longer, yet many of them become strong, active and engage in sex without necessarily aiming at having a baby,” she added. “It is important that they are given the opportunity to prevent unwanted pregnancies, which plays the twin role of improving their health and preventing mother to child transmission.” Johannes and Vivian Murliryianga*, from the Dar es Salaam suburb of Sinza, have five children; they are now receiving counselling from a community health worker as they try to prevent more pregnancies. Unfortunately, they learned about prevention of mother-to-child transmission too late to stop their youngest child from contracting HIV. “I normally did not go to a government hospital, I just had my babies at a clinic run by some lady to whom we give small money and she allows you to give birth at her place. We just call her shangazi [auntie],” Vivian said. “I was surprised when my child tested positive; I didn’t even know children could get HIV.” Under the Pathfinder programme, couples like Vivian and Johannes are given family planning advice according to their situation and needs. “As you know family planning methods are many - we just give them choices depending on what they prefer and the situation,” Mapunda said. “You will get some married couples telling you they prefer condoms, especially among discordant ones; some want pills. We counsel them on the merits and demerits of each.” Involving men She noted that while counselling had been largely successful, encouraging men to participate had been a challenge. “We have seen more success where fathers agree to join the programme but not all are willing and it becomes very difficult because it means the mother does many of the things secretly,” she said. “Imagine trying to give these services to a woman who fears disclosing her status or whose husband’s status is unknown; it is a challenge but we try what we can,” she added.
http://www.plusnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=88263