Updates

By: Sarah Nakimbowa, The Key Correspondents Programme

The Key Correspondents Programme is covering the Women Deliver 2013 global conference live from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia May 28 – 30.

Her name is Christine Obuya, but she is known as Pastor and she earned her nickname for her dedication to reducing the rate of HIV transmission from mothers to their children.

As a midwife at Iganga government hospital in Uganda, Obuya has seen firsthand the importance of integrating HIV with sexual and reproductive health services. And as an HIV activist Obuya, 63, has had a huge impact on women in her community, but it was almost a very different story. Read more...

By Lindsay Menard-Freeman, Women Deliver

In the U.S. and Europe, the transmission of HIV/AIDS from mother to child has been virtually eradicated.  Yet, worldwide approximately 900 children are newly infected with HIV every day; most of them in sub-Saharan Africa. Without intervention, 40% of pregnant women living with HIV are likely to pass the virus to their babies, and each year more than 200,000 children will die from HIV and AIDS related illnesses.  While the establishment of programs to prevent transmission has grown in recent years, there is evidence to support the need for education and counseling to supplement medical intervention. And programs like mothers2mothers (m2m) are bridging the gap between services and support.  Read more...
 

By: Harshi Hettige, Women Deliver

A study by SHOPS Project shows that the private sector plays a vital, although varied, role in addressing the HIV pandemic. There is less data on private health providers that offer HIV counselling and testing, however research reveals that this approach should be celebrated and taken advantage of as a solution. Doug Johnson and Xi Cheng conducted research in 18 developing countries and analysed data from 2005 to 2011. Read more...

By: Rati Bishnoi, Catapult

In many parts of the world, women living with HIV face a high risk of falling into poverty: Stigma and fears about worker productivity can make it particularly difficult for women to find work and earn a livelihood. Sanmitra Trust, a non-governmental organization in Mumbai, India, is working to break these barriers and help women living with HIV, sex workers, and other marginalized women build better futures for themselves and their families. In addition to providing health, welfare and legal services, Sanmitra Trust (a Catapult and Global Fund for Women partner) helps women living with HIV develop financial strength by learning job and business skills and accessing financial services like bank accounts and loans. Read more...

By: Harshi Hettige

Every year on 1 December, we recognize World AIDS Day – a day to fight for 25 million who have died from HIV/AIDS between 1981 and 2007, and for the 33.3 million people infected with HIV around the world today. The pandemic is particularly signicant to youth–almost half of all new HIV infections in the world are among people under 25. Read more...

The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign calls for an end to gender-based violence and appeals to governments to respond, protect, and prevent violence against women. Over the course of the 16 Days of Activism, which begins on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (November 25) and ends on Human Rights Day (December 10), Women Deliver will highlight 16 key leaders and updates about women's rights worldwide. When women survive, families, communities, and nations thrive. Read more...

By: Cassien Havugimana, Women Deliver 100 Young Leader from Rwanda

This blog is part of a series, edited by Women Deliver, in partnership with Impatient Optimists, on youth perspectives to celebrate World Contraception Day. Share your thoughts in comments and join the conversation at #WCD2012. For more stories and to get involved further visit No Controversy.

Young people have the right to contraceptive information and services. These rights are important not only for the youth, but also for all people in my home country of Rwanda. Read more...

By: Wanzala E. Martin, Women Deliver 100 Young Leader from Uganda

This blog is part of a series, edited by Women Deliver, in partnership with Impatient Optimists, on youth perspectives to celebrate World Contraception Day. Share your thoughts in comments and join the conversation at #WCD2012.

I am from Uganda, a country that many consider one of the earliest and best success stories in reducing HIV in the world. Whether or not you agree with this assertion, one fact for sure is that Uganda has experienced substantial declines in HIV prevalence and incidence during the past decade, especially among adolescents. This reduction can largely be attributed to increased access to contraception coupled with better funding to the health sector. Read more...

By: Harshi Hettige, Women Deliver

Praekelt Foundation’s Young Africa Live (YAL) is an entrepreneurial endeavor supporting the health and well-being of girls, women, and all youth in a fun and dynamic way.

YAL filled a yawning gap in South Africa’s mobile reach, which neglected to provide consumers with any information about HIV/AIDS - where to get tested, how to practice safe sex, and how to avoid getting it. This information is direly needed, particularly in a country where an estimated 5.6 million people were living with HIV and AIDS in 2009, the highest number of people affected in any nation. Read more...

By Lauran Neergaard; Originally posted on The Huffington Post

Tackling the female side of the AIDS epidemic means going far beyond today's global focus on pregnant women, specialists told the world's largest AIDS meeting Wednesday.

Already women make up half the world's HIV infections. Adolescent girls are at particular risk in the hardest-hit parts of the world, and protecting them requires addressing the poverty, violence and discrimination that too many women experience around the world, said UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Geeta Rao Gupta. Read more...

By: Lindsay Menard-Freeman, Women Deliver

Last week, the Washington DC YouthForce convened nearly 200 young people prior to the International AIDS Conference. Participants gathered at Gallaudet University from July 18 – 20 with hopes of meeting new people, sharpening skills and preparing for meaningful youth participation during the conference.

At the end of three days of workshops, plenaries, trainings, sessions, video screenings, home-group meetings, pizza parties, music & dance events and more, there were several positive outcomes and key highlights. Not only are young participants now geared up for the week, prepared with technical skills, new relationships and energy; they also developed a crowd-sourced Declaration for Change in its final editing stages by the time the pre-conference ended. Read more...

By: Harshi Hettige, Women Deliver

Jhpiego, a global health care organization for women and families, has made it their mission to ask the question, “How can we make lifesaving services available and accessible to the people who need them—all over the world?” This question will be brought up again and again at the International AIDS Conference in Washington DC next week. Together with partners Africare and the Tanzania Marketing and Communication (T-MARC) Company, Jhpiego has found an answer in Tanzania. Read more...

By: Smita Gaith, Women Deliver

World Pulse, a non-profit global communications network, is sharing a powerful new series called Laboring for Change. As part of the series, they share five stories of five women from different countries who are calling for increased attention and equality in maternal health and reproductive rights. As World Pulse explains, in the United States, advocates for maternal health and reproductive rights have seen a huge wave of recent legislation prohibiting health services, comprehensive sexual education, access to contraception, and abortion. Read more...

By Rati Bishnoi, Women Deliver

Every week, the Samajhdari or “Mutual Understanding” radio show creates a space for Nepali women to “speak out for themselves” and share their often “unspoken, internal dilemmas with one another,” says Programme Director Jaya Luintel. Read more...

By: Joanna Hoffman, Woman Deliver

Pulitzer-Center grantee Mae Azango has gone into hiding after receiving death threats in response to an article she published last Thursday in FrontPage Africa.  Azango bravely reported on female genital mutilation (FGM) in rural Liberia, and the devastating, and sometimes deadly, aftereffects it can produce. 

Ten out of Liberia’s 16 tribes practice FGM, accounting for up to 85% of the country’s population.  Often, cutting takes place in an unsanitary environment with unsterilized tools, which can lead to infection, tetanus, and HIV transmission.  If fresh tissue is cut and not stitched up, excessive bleeding can lead to shock and death.  Read more...

Originally posted by: FrontPage Africa

By: Mae Azango, one of four African journalists to win a prestigious grant from the Pulitzer Center to cover reproductive health issues

Family planning is now a serious problem in Africa, but many women in underdeveloped Countries are denied access to modern contraception due to inadequate supplies and isolation of rural dwellers in most instances. Other women are denied family planning methods because of cultural backgrounds and religious affiliation.

One would ask why family planning is important and should be made an access free service. According to a report conducted by Women Deliver, every year more than 500,000 women and girls die from pregnancy related complications. This has amounted to one death every minute. Read more...