Ensuring the sexual and reproductive health & rights of women affected by HIV
Ensuring the sexual and reproductive health & rights of women affected by HIV
An essential component of the enabling environment for achieving gender equality and the advancement of women. Joint statement submitted by Ipas to the UN CSW on 11 January 2006 on behalf of NGO co-signers
Ensuring the sexual and reproductive health & rights of women affected by HIV
An essential component of the enabling environment or achieving gender equality and the advancement of women
Joint statement submitted by Ipas to the UN CSW on 11 January 2006 on behalf of NGO co-signers(+)
The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) will review the thematic issue of “Enhanced participation of women in development: an enabling environment for achieving gender equality and the advancement of women, taking into account, inter alia, the fields of education, health and work”, at its 50th session from 27 February to 10 March 2006. In that context, we would especially like to highlight the need to ensure the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and rights of all women affected by HIV/AIDS as an essential contribution to enabling women around the world to achieve gender equality and development for themselves and their families. These women include (but are not restricted to) adults and adolescents who have been infected with HIV and women who engage in sex work as a means of ensuring their own and their families’ survival.
Until very recently, the majority of HIV programs related to women and AIDS focused on preventing perinatal transmission (PPT) of HIV, rather than on women's universal needs for basic SRH services. While efforts to reduce risks of perinatal transmission must certainly continue, we should acknowledge that most PPT programs have considered women mainly as vectors of disease. Insufficient attention has been given to expanding access to effective voluntary HIV counseling and testing for all women, whether they are pregnant or not. Greater attention must be given to the development and distribution of affordable technologies that can prevent HIV infection, particularly in women. SRH and HIV programs must both address the links between HIV/STI infection and unintended pregnancy as outcomes of unprotected and non-consensual sex.
To more effectively combat the effects of the AIDS epidemic, SRH and HIV/AIDS programs should provide unbiased and respectful diagnostic and treatment services that will ensure HIV-positive women’s wellbeing, whether they are pregnant or not. Antiretroviral therapy programs must be gender-sensitive, ensuring that women and men have equal access to steady drug supplies; women’s access must not be inhibited because drugs are only available through PPT programs or because attendant costs (for example, for CD4 counts and viral load tests) are unaffordable.
High numbers of women and girls suffer sexual assault, both within and outside marriage and in the context of sex work. Such rapes put them at risk of both HIV/STI infection and unwanted pregnancies. Much greater efforts are needed to expand access to post-exposure prophylaxis for rape survivors, as well as STI diagnosis and treatment and availability of emergency contraception for female survivors of assault.
The development of policy statements and service guidelines on sexual and reproductive health should include representatives of HIV-positive women’s networks, including younger women, so as to benefit from their personal insights and experiences. SRH and HIV policy statements and service guidelines should at the least include the following elements:
▪ An emphasis on the human rights of women living with, and affected by, HIV/AIDS. This includes freedom from discrimination in the provision of health services and recognition that coercion or pressure on HIV-positive women to undergo sterilization or terminate pregnancies is a clear violation of their rights.
▪ An emphasis on giving adolescent and adult women, including those who are HIV-positive and/or sex workers, nonjudgmental information and services tailored to their needs and in a manner which is easily accessible to them.
▪ A range of high-quality services including: comprehensive contraceptive services geared at both preventing HIV/STI transmission and avoiding unintended pregnancy; antenatal, perinatal and postnatal care, when requested, both for woman and baby; postabortion care and measures to ensure women’s access to safe, legal abortions when requested; antiretroviral therapy and drugs to treat opportunistic infections; and diagnosis and treatment of reproductive tract infections.
▪ Employment of women living with HIV in prevention and voluntary HIV counseling and testing programs as paid staff rather than as unpaid volunteers.
In addition, governmental bodies, NGOs and universities must promote capacity-building and skills-building for women affected by and living with HIV/AIDS so that they can participate meaningfully in advocacy and policymaking. These measures will help us achieve the promised development envisioned in the Beijing Platform for Action and the Millennium Development Goals on empowering women and advancing gender equity, reducing maternal mortality, and combating HIV/AIDS.
+Co-signers in consultative status with ECOSOC (The names of these organizations appeared on the statement submitted to the CSW)
Action Canada for Population and Development
Advocates for Youth, USA
AIDOS (Italian Association for Women in Development)
Australian Reproductive Health Alliance
Catholics for a Free Choice, USA/International Program
Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE), USA
Center for Reproductive Rights, USA
Center for Women’s Global Leadership, USA
Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN)
Family Care International, USA
Fundación de Estudio e Investigación de la Mujer (FEIM), Argentina
Girls’ Power Initiative, Nigeria
Guttmacher Institute, USA
Human Rights Watch, USA
Interact Worldwide
International Women’s AIDS Caucus/International AIDS Society
Ipas, global
Marie Stopes International
New Zealand Family Planning Association
Population Action International, USA
WOMANKIND Worldwide
Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), global
Women for Women's Human Rights (WWHR) - New Ways, Turkey
World Population Foundation, The Netherlands
Additional NGOs and individuals who endorsed the statement:
ASTRA-CEE Women's Network for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
Asia-Pacific Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS
Betsi Pendry, South Africa
Canadian Treatment Action Council
International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW), global
Kenya Network of Women with AIDS (KENWA), Kenya
Living Together Project, South Africa
Pacific Institute for Women’s Health, USA
Positive Women's Network, Canada
Rosalind Petchesky, Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Hunter College & the Graduate Center, City University of New York; WEDO Board member
Sexuality Education and Information Council of the U.S. (SIECUS), USA
Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice, The Netherlands
YouAct, European Youth Network for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
Youth Coalition, global
An essential component of the enabling environment for achieving gender equality and the advancement of women. Joint statement submitted by Ipas to the UN CSW on 11 January 2006 on behalf of NGO co-signers
Ensuring the sexual and reproductive health & rights of women affected by HIV
An essential component of the enabling environment or achieving gender equality and the advancement of women
Joint statement submitted by Ipas to the UN CSW on 11 January 2006 on behalf of NGO co-signers(+)
The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) will review the thematic issue of “Enhanced participation of women in development: an enabling environment for achieving gender equality and the advancement of women, taking into account, inter alia, the fields of education, health and work”, at its 50th session from 27 February to 10 March 2006. In that context, we would especially like to highlight the need to ensure the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and rights of all women affected by HIV/AIDS as an essential contribution to enabling women around the world to achieve gender equality and development for themselves and their families. These women include (but are not restricted to) adults and adolescents who have been infected with HIV and women who engage in sex work as a means of ensuring their own and their families’ survival.
Until very recently, the majority of HIV programs related to women and AIDS focused on preventing perinatal transmission (PPT) of HIV, rather than on women's universal needs for basic SRH services. While efforts to reduce risks of perinatal transmission must certainly continue, we should acknowledge that most PPT programs have considered women mainly as vectors of disease. Insufficient attention has been given to expanding access to effective voluntary HIV counseling and testing for all women, whether they are pregnant or not. Greater attention must be given to the development and distribution of affordable technologies that can prevent HIV infection, particularly in women. SRH and HIV programs must both address the links between HIV/STI infection and unintended pregnancy as outcomes of unprotected and non-consensual sex.
To more effectively combat the effects of the AIDS epidemic, SRH and HIV/AIDS programs should provide unbiased and respectful diagnostic and treatment services that will ensure HIV-positive women’s wellbeing, whether they are pregnant or not. Antiretroviral therapy programs must be gender-sensitive, ensuring that women and men have equal access to steady drug supplies; women’s access must not be inhibited because drugs are only available through PPT programs or because attendant costs (for example, for CD4 counts and viral load tests) are unaffordable.
High numbers of women and girls suffer sexual assault, both within and outside marriage and in the context of sex work. Such rapes put them at risk of both HIV/STI infection and unwanted pregnancies. Much greater efforts are needed to expand access to post-exposure prophylaxis for rape survivors, as well as STI diagnosis and treatment and availability of emergency contraception for female survivors of assault.
The development of policy statements and service guidelines on sexual and reproductive health should include representatives of HIV-positive women’s networks, including younger women, so as to benefit from their personal insights and experiences. SRH and HIV policy statements and service guidelines should at the least include the following elements:
▪ An emphasis on the human rights of women living with, and affected by, HIV/AIDS. This includes freedom from discrimination in the provision of health services and recognition that coercion or pressure on HIV-positive women to undergo sterilization or terminate pregnancies is a clear violation of their rights.
▪ An emphasis on giving adolescent and adult women, including those who are HIV-positive and/or sex workers, nonjudgmental information and services tailored to their needs and in a manner which is easily accessible to them.
▪ A range of high-quality services including: comprehensive contraceptive services geared at both preventing HIV/STI transmission and avoiding unintended pregnancy; antenatal, perinatal and postnatal care, when requested, both for woman and baby; postabortion care and measures to ensure women’s access to safe, legal abortions when requested; antiretroviral therapy and drugs to treat opportunistic infections; and diagnosis and treatment of reproductive tract infections.
▪ Employment of women living with HIV in prevention and voluntary HIV counseling and testing programs as paid staff rather than as unpaid volunteers.
In addition, governmental bodies, NGOs and universities must promote capacity-building and skills-building for women affected by and living with HIV/AIDS so that they can participate meaningfully in advocacy and policymaking. These measures will help us achieve the promised development envisioned in the Beijing Platform for Action and the Millennium Development Goals on empowering women and advancing gender equity, reducing maternal mortality, and combating HIV/AIDS.
+Co-signers in consultative status with ECOSOC (The names of these organizations appeared on the statement submitted to the CSW)
Action Canada for Population and Development
Advocates for Youth, USA
AIDOS (Italian Association for Women in Development)
Australian Reproductive Health Alliance
Catholics for a Free Choice, USA/International Program
Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE), USA
Center for Reproductive Rights, USA
Center for Women’s Global Leadership, USA
Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN)
Family Care International, USA
Fundación de Estudio e Investigación de la Mujer (FEIM), Argentina
Girls’ Power Initiative, Nigeria
Guttmacher Institute, USA
Human Rights Watch, USA
Interact Worldwide
International Women’s AIDS Caucus/International AIDS Society
Ipas, global
Marie Stopes International
New Zealand Family Planning Association
Population Action International, USA
WOMANKIND Worldwide
Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), global
Women for Women's Human Rights (WWHR) - New Ways, Turkey
World Population Foundation, The Netherlands
Additional NGOs and individuals who endorsed the statement:
ASTRA-CEE Women's Network for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
Asia-Pacific Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS
Betsi Pendry, South Africa
Canadian Treatment Action Council
International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW), global
Kenya Network of Women with AIDS (KENWA), Kenya
Living Together Project, South Africa
Pacific Institute for Women’s Health, USA
Positive Women's Network, Canada
Rosalind Petchesky, Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Hunter College & the Graduate Center, City University of New York; WEDO Board member
Sexuality Education and Information Council of the U.S. (SIECUS), USA
Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice, The Netherlands
YouAct, European Youth Network for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
Youth Coalition, global