UNITED STATES:
"Women Need to Take Lead in Safe Sex" USA Today , (04.23.2010) Yolanda Young
“In 1993, the Food and Drug Administration gave its stamp of approval to a
then-novel item: the female condom. At the time, AIDS awareness was growing. NBA
star Magic Johnson had announced he was HIV-positive less than two years
earlier. But the virus was still greatly feared and misunderstood. Condom use
was urged as a matter of dire public health, and so women would finally protect
themselves if their partner chose not to.
“Yet according to the Center for Health and Gender Equity, in 2007 about 11
billion male condoms were circulated worldwide compared with 26 million female
ones. Cost used to be an issue, but it is no longer: The $4 female condom has
been replaced by the 82-cent one.
“Though women have, indeed, come a long way, when it comes to sexual equality,
we apparently still have a long way to go. But perhaps change is on the way.
“I live in Washington, D.C., and if I walk into a participating beauty salon,
convenience store or high school, the FC2 female condom (FDA-approved last year)
is available free of charge. Washington’s campaign to protect women is being
promoted through a $500,000 grant from the nonprofit MAC AIDS Fund.
“Washington has been ravaged by HIV/AIDS, with the highest rate in the country:
Over 3 percent of adults are infected, according to a 2009 epidemiology report.
Over a quarter of those are believed to be women. Chicago has launched a female
condom awareness campaign, too, and hopefully other cities will follow. The
statistics point to the urgency.
“The female condom is only one tool in helping women help themselves, but it’s a
critical one. It’s high time that women have the opportunity to love their men
while loving themselves just as much.”
"Free Female Condoms Are New Tool in City's Battle
Against HIV/AIDS" Washington Post , (03.06.2010) Darryl Fears
Under a program rolling out in the next three weeks, Washington will become the
first city in the United States to distribute free female condoms. Officials
said the effort will target sections of wards 1, 2, 3, 6, and 7 where research
indicates many African-American heterosexuals engage in risky sexual behavior.
“Anywhere male condoms are available, female condoms will be available,” said
Shannon Hader, director of the D.C. HIV/AIDS Administration (DCHAA). Male
condoms have been distributed across the city for a decade. A 2008 report
indicated that 3 percent of Washington residents are HIV-positive, though Hader
and other officials believe the real prevalence rate is closer to 5 percent.
The initiative, which will make 500,000 female condoms available in beauty
salons, convenience stores, and high schools, is funded through a $500,000 grant
from the MAC AIDS Fund. A subsidiary of MAC Cosmetics, the fund already
contributes to other District programs, including two needle exchanges.
Hader pointed out several troubling facts from the city’s “HIV Heterosexual
Behavior Study.” In that report, 75 percent of respondents said they were in a
committed relationship. However, 45 percent admitted to sex outside the
relationship, and 46 percent believed their partner was not being faithful. More
than 70 percent reported not using condoms, and only 60 percent had been tested
for HIV.
Hader said workers with community organizations are learning how to demonstrate
the proper use of the female condom.
The watchdog group D.C. Appleseed has criticized DCHAA in the past, but
Executive Director Walter Smith praised the new initiative. “On this one,
they’re cutting edge. The very fact that they’re doing this says to women of the
city that this is important to you. This is important to your families. Get with
the program.”
Greater Empowerment for Black Women See thisOpinion Editorial
by CEO and Founder Phill Wilson at the Body
National Women & Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness
March 10 marks the celebration of the 5th Annual National Women & Girls
HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
"HIV/AIDS poses a threat to the health of women and girls nationally and
globally," stated Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director of the National Institute of
Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health. "NIAID is
committed to supporting research to develop HIV prevention tools that women and
girls can control and to providing HIV prevention and care to the most
vulnerable members of this group. I encourage women and adolescent girls to take
advantage of routine HIV testing and, if infected, to start treatment as early
as their doctors recommend, "stated the director.
Last month the University of Michigan's Institute for Research on Women and
Gender presented, "Lost in Translation: Gender Theory and HIV/AIDS Research" by
Jennifer Hirsch, PhD, Columbia University. Hirsch presented findings from a five
country comparative ethnographic study analyzing one key element of heterosexual
HIV transmission: the gendered social organization of extramarital sex.
Following her speech, Michigan HIV News had a chance to ask her about how her
research illuminated the social context of women's risk for HIV and how public
health has missed the point with individual prevention messages for women. See
the video below.
Medical/Clinical Reports
The Impact of HAART on
Women’s Quality of Life
In the latest issue of AIDS Research and Therapy, Chenglong Liu et
al. report the results of a study of HAART’s impact on the quality
of life of HIV-infected women. The study analyzed data gathered in
the Women’s Interagency Health Study (WIHS), the largest
HIV/AIDS prospective cohort study of U.S. women (read more about
WIHS
here and
here). Study results indicated that in the short term, HAART
users had improved quality of life scores in areas such as role
functioning, social functioning, pain, and perceived health.
However, HAART did not have any long-term effect on any of the
quality of life measure. The full text of the research report,
Assessing the Effect of HAART on Quality of Life Among HIV-Infected
Women is also available. Those interested in women’s HIV/AIDS
treatment issues may also wish to consult the U.S. Health Resources
and Services Administration’s
A Guide to the Clinical Care of Women with HIV, is
available free of charge. AIDSinfo links to additional
resources on women and HIV.
AIDSinfo At-A-Glance: Volume Issue No. # 16
Dress for Success is not-for profit agency designed to advance
low-income women's economic and social development and to encourage
self-sufficiency through career development and employment retention. Dress for
Success responds to the needs of our communities by providing programs that help
economically disadvantaged women acquire jobs, retain their new positions and
succeed in the mainstream workplace. For more information on this organization
and locations in Michigan, please check out their website at:
www.dressforsuccess.org
Resources at The Body While the number of women
with HIV in the United States -- not to mention around the world -- increases,
there are precious few places on the Web where HIV-positive women can turn for
critically important information and support. That's why The Body has launched
its new and improved
HIV/AIDS Resource Center for Women. Overflowing with practical information
about living with HIV, having a baby and dealing with HIV medications, the
resource center features:
If you're a
woman living with HIV, or are simply looking to learn more about how HIV affects
women, there's no better resource on the Web than The Body's newly updated
HIV/AIDS Resource Center for Women.
The Well Project, an initiative by and for women living with
HIV/AIDS, has launched a new Web site to serve as a comprehensive
woman-specific HIV resource offering the latest information on
managing the disease for infected women, health care providers,
and advocates. Women are the fastest growing population of newly
HIV-infected people in the United States and worldwide.
"Women with HIV/AIDS face unique challenges. The Well
Project is specifically designed to identify and fill in the gaps
of current information and unify the distribution of the already
available, but often under-utilized resources," said Dawn
Averitt, its founder and CEO.
The Web site includes fact sheets; data sets; summary
slides; a searchable clinical trials database; a resource
directory; and a physician network for expert discussion on
treatment. The site is divided into five targeted sections: HIV,
The Basics, Treatment and Trials, Diseases and Conditions, Living
Well, and a Women's Center.
In addition, members can participate in confidential and
secure discussion boards, download advocacy tools, and receive an
e-newsletter highlighting the most current information about
women and HIV.
For more information, go to www.thewellproject.com.
Women's Health Weekly
(10.02.03)
"UN Launches First Comprehensive Web Site on Gender
and HIV/AIDS" http://www.genderandaids.org Designed to be user-friendly, informative and interactive, the site
offers research, training materials, surveys, advocacy tools, current news and opinion pieces by leading experts. "This online resource
center is a practical step forward by UNIFEM and UNAIDS together, designed to improve the support for the millions of women around
the world living with HIV and affected by the epidemic," according to UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot.
Publication for women available from Project
Inform! "Positive? How Are You Feeling?" contains a rich assortment of information,
including how best to take care of yourself emotionally, physically and mentally
while dealing with HIV.www.thebody.com/pinf/wise_words/positive/contents.htm
Gynecological Problems Among HIV+ Women NATAP has posted a 48 page Guideline in pdf format written by Jean Anderson, MD, Johns Hopkins University, and Silvia Abukarach, MD, MPH, on the NATAP website at
WWW.NATAP.ORG
New at the NPIN: Living Positive: An Inspiring
Documentary about Women and AIDS. See the
Resources section.
