Ipas > New report highlights reproductive rights for women living with HIV/AIDS

New report highlights reproductive rights for women living with HIV/AIDS

September 20, 2005

South African woman and her baby with nurse

Millenium Development Goal 6, which focuses on combating HIV/AIDS and other major diseases, has a target of reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS. Photo courtesy of Giacomo Pirozzi, Panos Pictures.

World leaders gathered in New York last week to discuss how the United Nations can more effectively work to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the year 2015. To coincide with this World Summit, Ipas and partners released a report on a project that assessed progress (locally and nationally) in seven countries toward achieving the MDGs that relate to the reproductive-health needs of women with HIV/AIDS.

In 2000, the United Nations General Assembly adopted eight goals to measure progress toward the development of all nations, covering issues ranging from poverty to education and environmental sustainability. At last week's World Summit at the United Nations, world leaders recommitted their nations to the MDGs, including a renewed call for universal access to reproductive health by 2015.

Two of the goals are particularly relevant for the reproductive health of women affected by HIV/AIDS:

MDG 5 aims to improve maternal health by reducing the maternal mortality ratio by 75 percent.
MDG 6, which focuses on combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other major diseases, has a target of not only halting, but reversing, the spread of HIV/AIDS and other diseases.

The new report, Reproductive rights for women affected by HIV/AIDS? A project to monitor Millennium Development Goals 5 and 6, outlines findings from seven countries on the following benchmarks:

The availability of voluntary HIV counseling and testing for women
Fertility regulation, including access to contraceptive information within the context of HIV infection, access to a range of contraceptives, and the availability of emergency contraception (EC) and safe abortion services
HIV/AIDS-related stigma and discrimination in the health-care setting
The use of a human-rights framework in providing programs and services for women with HIV/AIDS
The involvement of HIV-positive women in developing, implementing and evaluating reproductive-health policies and programs

Data was gathered using a simple data-collection tool for monitoring achievement of the MDGs that was developed by Ipas in 2004 in collaboration with the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW), the Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE) and the Pacific Institute for Women's Health. Ipas worked with six organizations to test the monitoring tool: Federation for Women and Family Planning in Poland, Fundación de Estudio e Investigación de la Mujer (FEIM) in Argentina, the Gender and AIDS Forum in South Africa, ICW in Lesotho and Swaziland, Punto de Encuentro de la Comunidad, AC (PECAC) in Mexico, and Women Fighting AIDS in Kenya (WOFAK).

For more information, contact:
Kirsten Sherk
Senior Associate, Media Relations
e-mail: sherkk@ipas.org
phone: 919.960.5612
fax: 919.929.0258