Building a safe house on firm ground: key findings from a global values and preferences survey regarding the sexual and reproductive health and human rights of women living with HIV

Programme Reports & Evaluations
Geneva
WHO
2015
68 p.
Organizations

It is estimated that 50–55% of people living with HIV globally are women. In 2006, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued Sexual and reproductive health of women living with HIV/AIDS: Guidelines on care, treatment and support for women living with HIV and their children in resource-constrained settings. These guidelines focused on five key areas; sexual health, family planning, maternal and perinatal health, abortion, and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). This Guideline needs to be updated due to changes in the biomedical and political aspects of the HIV response, and in internal WHO processes relating to the production of its technical guidelines. The forthcoming Guideline will encompass recommendations for policy, formal health care, and community engagement, and will be embedded in a human rights framework. Salamander Trust was selected to work in partnership with the Department of Reproductive Health and Research at WHO to conduct a global community consultation on the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and human rights of women living with HIV to inform the Guideline update process and to help determine priorities and outline key content areas for the updated Guideline. Women living with HIV designed the global consultation, on which this report is based. By involving and listening to women from the outset, WHO are more likely to produce guidance that authentically addresses what women living with HIV want and need, and thus gain their support and engagement. The consultation aimed to: identify key areas to include in the revised Guidelines in line with priorities expressed by women who live with HIV with diverse geographic backgrounds and experiences; strengthen capacity among civil society (in general) and women living with HIV (in particular) to understand the purpose and scope of, and to engage with and advocate for, the WHO technical guidelines; galvanize broad-based support for and likely endorsement of the final guidelines among women living with HIV; identify key unaddressed areas for future policy, research and action.

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