학술논문

Women, reproductive rights, and HIV/AIDS: issues on which research and interventions are still needed
Document Type
Academic Journal
Source
Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition. Dec, 2006, Vol. 24 Issue 4, p413, 13 p.
Subject
United States
Language
English
ISSN
1606-0997
Abstract
From 2002 to 2005, two literature reviews identified a number of reproductive health issues that appeared to be relatively neglected in relation to HIV/AIDS: contraceptive information tailored to the needs of HIV-positive people; voluntary HIV counselling and testing during antenatal care, labour, and delivery; parenting options for HIV-positive people besides pregnancy through unprotected intercourse (i.e. assisted conception and legal adoption or foster care); unwanted pregnancy; and abortion-related care. An additional finding was that stigma and discrimination were frequently cited as barriers to enjoyment of reproductive rights by HIV-positive women. Subsequently, a pilot project was initiated in which non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in developing countries used benchmarks to ascertain whether these neglected issues were addressed in local programmes and interventions serving women affected by HIV and AIDS. The benchmarks also assessed whether policies and programmes paid attention to the human and reproductive rights of HIV-positive women. This paper describes the main findings from the two exercises in relation to contraception for women living with HIV or AIDS, abortion-related care, legal adoption by HIV-positive parents, and reproductive rights. It concludes with a number of recommendations on topics to be incorporated into the international research agenda, policies, and programmes in the field of HIV/AIDS. Key words: HIV; Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome; Women; Reproductive health; Pregnancy; Human rights; Contraception; Abortion; Abortion, Induced; Interventions; Research; Literature review
INTRODUCTION United Nations (UN) agencies now speak about feminization of the HIV/AIDS pandemic because women comprise an increasing proportion of people affected by HIV and AIDS around the world (1). [...]