Showing 41 - 60 of 75 Results for "Botswana"

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Laws and practices that obstruct adolescents’ access to services, such as parental consent requirements, age, and marital status requirements, must be aligned with the actual behavior of adolescents. Studies found that legal requirements restricted adolescents from getting tested for HIV even if they were sexually active and at risk for HIV. "There is a strong evidence base that the stigma, discrimination and criminalization affecting adolescent key populations aged 10 to 17 is intensified due to domestic and international legal constructs that rely on law-enforcement based interventions dependent upon arrests, pre-trial detention, incarceration and compulsory ‘rehabilitation’ in institutional placements," particularly among adolescents who sell sex or inject drugs (Conner, 2015: para 1).
Increasing Access to Services
1 study
Women living with HIV need information and access to services for emergency contraception and post-abortion care (PAC) services. Studies found that women did not have adequate knowledge of emergency contraception, nor access to services for post-abortion care.
Meeting the Sexual and Reproductive Health Needs of Women Living With HIV
1 study
Further interventions are needed to ensure that women, especially women living with HIV, are screened and treated for cervical pre-cancer and cancer. Studies found that women were not aware of and/or did not receive regular screening and treatment of cervical cancer, despite higher risk of developing cervical cancer.
Meeting the Sexual and Reproductive Health Needs of Women Living With HIV
1 study
Ongoing surveillance is needed to assess the impact of cART on infants (both HIV-negative and HIV-positive) exposed in utero and during breastfeeding. A recent US study had encouraging results that among ARV-exposed uninfected children, no learning issues were noted (Nozyce et al., 2014) and another US-based study found no increased risk for infants exposed to ART (Phiri et al., 2014). A pilot ART registry in Africa has been launched
Antenatal Care - Treatment
1 study
Further interventions are needed to provide support (physical, psychological, technological, economic) to patients and caregivers. Studies showed that patients and caregivers have many physical, psychological, and economic unmet needs, with high rates of depression and poverty, and in some cases, rely on their young children or relatives to provide care with no outside support. Some studies show that caregivers suffer from stigma attached to caring for someone HIV-positive. [See also %{s:67}] Some studies showed that women have a lower quality of life than men. A study in a high HIV prevalence area showed that for women, lack of control in sexual decision-making was associated with depression, while for men, intergenerational sex was associated with depression.
Women and Girls
1 study
Changing laws and policies, ending police violence, and other mechanisms are needed to protect sex workers from violence and rape. Studies found sex workers experienced high rates of violence and rape from clients and police, and that fear of arrest was a barrier to accessing health services. Studies also found that violence was associated with inconsistent condom use and HIV incidence. Studies also found high rates of violence from intimate partners and clients, but inability to press charges.
Female Sex Workers
1 study
Interventions, policies and budgets are needed to reduce sexual coercion and rape of both boys and girls, create awareness in communities that violence against children is unacceptable, strengthen child statutory protection systems, and conceptualize and implement appropriate child protection services in developing countries. Access to post-exposure prophylaxis in case of rape when the perpetrator is HIV-positive is also needed. [See also %{c:21}] In most countries of Eastern and Southern Africa, the age of consent for sex is 16. Despite these restrictions, more than 10% of girls have had sexual debut before age 15. A study found that in a sample of more than 1,000 males and more than 1,000 females, large numbers had experienced high rates of physical punishment, emotional abuse and touching of sexual organs when not wanted or sex due to force or coercion prior to age 18 and that incident HIV infections were more common in women who suffered emotional abuse, sexual abuse and physical punishment. Sexual abuse in men was associated with alcohol abuse and depression. Other studies found high rates of sexual coercion and high-risk behaviors among street children. “Few children disclose abuse, fewer still seek services and report to authorities, virtually no children actually receive services and perpetrators rarely suffer consequences” (Sommarin et al., 2014: S213). Most research does not provide adolescent-specific data on violence, instead listing results for ages 15 to 49. Reviews have not found evidence that preventive responses have had an impact on rates of sexual abuse. Effective programs in the US and Canada have not been assessed for adaptation in other countries.
Mitigating Risk
1 study
Programs must adhere to the longstanding international agreement to voluntarism, informed consent, and ensuring the right of individuals and couples to decide freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children. Studies found that women living with HIV had been sterilized against their will, were pressured by providers to terminate a pregnancy, or were stigmatized for becoming pregnant. Studies also found that provision of antiretroviral therapy was conditional on using certain types of contraception. Litigation is currently being undertaken. A study found that HIV-positive women who accessed contraceptive services were not informed of the benefits of PMTCT programs in reducing vertical transmission.
Meeting the Sexual and Reproductive Health Needs of Women Living With HIV
1 study
Strategies need to be identified to empower women to create demand for improved maternal health services and challenge violations of their rights in facility-based childbirth. This is a particularly acute need for women living with HIV. Studies show that HIV-related stigma may reduce the likelihood of delivering in a health facility
Antenatal Care - Treatment
1 study
Additional efforts are needed to provide postpartum women with contraception information and methods so they may space or prevent their next pregnancy and use condoms to reduce the likelihood of HIV transmission upon resumption of sexual activity. [See also %{c:15}] Studies found that women were not given contraceptive counseling or contraceptives postpartum and that transport costs restricted their ability to gain access to their contraceptive method of choice. Studies also found an unmet need for postpartum contraception among women living with HIV. Studies found that sexuality and condom use need to be addressed when sexual activity resumes postpartum. Family planning services are most often not provided postpartum in PMTCT programs. Providers and women did not know that clinically well HIV-positive women can use IUDs. Women lacked the full range of available contraception. No study to date has measured pregnancy intention prospectively in an HIV-discordant couple cohort and measured the effect of desired pregnancy on HIV transmission.
Postpartum
1 study
HIV-positive mothers, fathers, grandmothers and the larger community need clear, consistent, non-contradictory and nonjudgmental counseling on infant feeding practices. Health care providers need training based on accurate information. Studies found that health care providers gave HIV-positive women conflicting information and that simplified structured counseling tools are needed. Studies found that women reported that providers accused them of killing their infants if they breastfed. Women lack access to infant formula but have been told by providers that it is the only way for their infant to survive. Women were told that breastfeeding is a mode of HIV transmission and exclusive breastfeeding is a mode of prevention. Women fear HIV more than diarrheal disease, even though more deaths occur from diarrheal disease. Women were not given choices. Women did not give providers accurate information on how they were feeding their infant for fear of being denied health care. Women were told to feed their infants formula yet did not have adequate food support, most mothers could not do so with few having an income and most with no access to safe drinking water. Women lacked autonomy to decide infant feeding, which was decided by male partners or grandmothers. "Despite the current WHO recommendations to use extended infant prophylaxis as long as the infant is breastfed, no data are yet available from a clinical trial to confirm effectiveness and safety of this regimen beyond the first six months postpartum" (Taha, 2011: 919).
Postpartum
1 study
Evaluated interventions are urgently needed to reduce multiple and concurrent partnerships – particularly for both men and women where perceived HIV risk is low and the woman is subjected to gender norms of faithfulness while the man is subjected to gender norms of having multiple sexual partners. [See also %{s:57}] Studies found that married women were at risk of HIV acquisition, but were either unaware of the risk or did not believe they were at risk. Studies found that extra-relational sex on the part of the husband was common. Other studies found that a significant portion of women have had high rates of multiple partners. Other studies found that serial monogamous relationships led to a high risk of HIV acquisition.
Partner Reduction
1 study
Effective programs (as described here) must be expanded to reach many more young people, especially young people who are most neglected such as very young adolescents, out-of-school youth, young people living with HIV, homeless and rural youth, as well as lesbian, MSM and transgender adolescents and other key populations. [See also %{s:73}] Studies found adolescent girls did not know that anal sex increased the risk of HIV acquisition, did not use condoms, and did not know that oral sex carries a low risk of HIV acquisition. Out-of school-youth were at high risk of early sexual debut. A scan of sex education curricula found that information on key aspects of sex such as information on condoms in addition to negative, fear-based curriculum were prevalent and that less than half of out of school youth were reached. In some countries, pornography was the principal source of information about sex and pornography often depicts condom-free sex and gender inequality, with men in domineering roles (Day, 2014).
Mitigating Risk
1 study
Interventions are needed to reduce barriers to treatment adherence and to understand how these differ by sex. Increased research is needed to understand the most effective strategies to increase adherence. Studies found that a number of barriers that impact treatment adherence, such as violence, stigma, transport costs, childcare, forced migration, the need for food, the need to hide their medication from their male partners and changes in body image. Screening and treatment for depression may improve adherence, although some studies have shown mixed results. A review found that adherence differs by sex, but with little disaggregation for which factors affect women. Data collection should be more nuanced and not assume that women fall into static groups. A study of people living with HIV who disengaged from ART found that harsh and disrespectful treatment by providers, as well as competing work and livelihood demands, lack of funds for transport, etc. made attendance at ART clinics challenging.
Adherence and Support
1 study
Additional efforts are needed to provide information and more contraceptive options for women living with HIV (or whose serostatus is unknown) who do not desire to have a child or wish to space the next pregnancy. The 2012 WHO guidelines on hormonal contraceptives and HIV should be widely disseminated to programs and providers. Studies found that many HIV-positive women had significant numbers of unintended pregnancies and that preferred contraceptive methods were not available.
Meeting the Sexual and Reproductive Health Needs of Women Living With HIV
1 study
Postpartum
Safe Motherhood and Prevention of Vertical Transmission
Postpartum care is the most neglected aspect of maternal health, yet a time of high risk for maternal mortality. "The majority of maternal deaths occur during or immediately after childbirth; ...up to half of all newborn deaths occur within the first 24 hours of life" (WHO et al., 2011c). While many women access antenatal care, much fewer women globally have access to postnatal care. For exampl...
Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision
Prevention for Women
Male circumcision has now been shown in three randomized clinical trials to reduce the risk of HIV acquisition for men by 50-60% (Auvert et al., 2005; Bailey et al., 2007; Gray et al., 2007). Male circumcision at birth as part of postnatal care could result, upon sexual initiation and during his lifetime, in a reduction in the risk of HIV acquisition. Voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) ...
Strengthening the Enabling Environment
In order for HIV and/or AIDS interventions for women and girls to succeed, factors beyond the health services need to be addressed through multisectoral interventions. These environmental factors include gender norms that guide how girls and boys grow to be women and men, legal norms that confer or withhold rights for women and girls, access to education, income, levels of tolerance for violenc...
Women and Girls in Complex Emergencies
Prevention for Key Affected Populations
Complex emergencies are situations of disrupted livelihoods and threats to life produced by warfare, civil disturbance and large-scale movements of people, in which any emergency response has to be conducted in a difficult political and security environment (WHO, 2002). Complex emergencies can also be generated from natural disasters. An estimated 200 million people are affected every year by h...
Scaling up PMTCT programs increases the number of women who know their serostatus and improves HIV knowledge.
Structuring Health Services to Meet Women’s Needs
3 studies Gray IV, V HIV testing, PMTCT, antenatal care, treatment Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire