- Comprehensive Sexual and Reproductive Health
- Family Planning
- Women, Girls, and HIV
- Maternal Health
- U.S. Foreign Policy & Funding
- Why Women and Girls?
Women, Girls, and HIV
We cannot put an end to HIV without prioritizing women. Women now account for more than half of the world’s population living with HIV, and HIV/AIDS is one of the leading causes of death for women of reproductive age (15-44). Women must be at the center of U.S. global HIV policies and programs if the U.S. government intends to sincerely address the HIV epidemic.
Prioritizing women means that HIV policies and programs are based on women’s health needs and human rights, unfettered by political agendas. HIV interventions must integrate family planning and other reproductive health services, without exception—family planning and HIV are intrinsically linked. HIV prevention strategies must promote tools women can use to protect themselves, such as female condoms. All women must have access to the tools and services necessary to protect themselves from HIV infection and plan their families.
It also requires that global HIV interventions are grounded in women’s rights. The HIV pandemic is dependent on the systemic human right violations, such as gender inequality and violence against women, that render women at a disproportionate risk of infection. To end HIV, U.S. global health policy has to address the things that are bigger than HIV. To end HIV, it has to start with women.
Additional resources:
A Woman-centered Approach to the U.S. Global Health Initiative
The U.S. Global Health Initiative and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights: Integration
Ribbons Without Rights Don't Save Lives
Urge your Senators to Support International Family Planning Funding
Tell your Senators that you support full funding for international family planning and a permanent repeal of the Global Gag Rule.
Take Action
Tell your Representative to Support the United Nations
Congress is now considering a bill (H.R. 2829) that would effectively end our relationship with the United Nations. Act now and tell your Representative to oppose this harmful piece of legislation.
Take Action
Take Action on the Global Gag Rule
Join your voice with others and urge your member of Congress to co-sponsor the Global Democracy Promotion Act of 2011, a bill that would create a legislative barrier to block attempts by a future administration to re-instate the Global Gag Rule.
Take Action
Raise your voice for the Global Sexual and Reproductive Health Act
Ask your Representative to co-sponsor the Global Sexual and Reproductive Health Act (H.R. 1319), newly introduced legislation that promotes a truly comprehensive and integrated approach to U.S. international reproductive health programs.
Take Action
Tell your Representative to Oppose Elimination of International Family Planning Funding
The House is currently debating a spending bill (H.R. 1) that, as it stands, would drastically decrease funding for international family planning and reproductive health, global HIV/AIDS, and maternal and child health programs and services. We need you to speak out for women's health and rights today!
Take Action
Help Make U.S. Global AIDS Programs Work for Women
Send a postcard to Ambassador Goosby, the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, and urge him to make U.S. global AIDS programs and policies work harder and better for women and girls worldwide.
Take Action
- Advocates for Youth
- AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth and Families
- AIDS Education Global Information System (AEGIS)
- AIDS.org
- American Social Health Association (ASHA)
- amfAR
- Campaign to End AIDS
- Center for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA)
- Cervical Barrier Advancement Society
- Contraceptive Research and Development Program (CONRAD)
- EngenderHealth
- Global Action for Children
- Global AIDS Alliance
- HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies
- HIV InSite
- Housing Works
- International AIDS Society
- International AIDS Vaccine Initiative
- International AIDS Women Caucus
- International Community of Women Living with AIDS (ICW)
- International Council of AIDS Service Organisations (ICASO)
- International HIV/AIDS Alliance
- International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF)
- International Women’s Health Coalition (IWHC)
- JHPIEGO
- PEPFAR Watch
- Population Reference Bureau
- Prevention Now!
- Reproductive Health Matters
- The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation
- The Female Health Company
- The Global Campaign for Microbicides
- Women, Children and HIV
Source60,000 - The number of maternal deaths attributed to HIV in 2008.
Source52% - Women make up approximately 52% of the total global population living with HIV.
Source8 - In sub-Saharan Africa, women 15-24 years old are 8 times more likely than men to be HIV positive.
Source$15 billion - Launched in 2003 by President George W. Bush, PEPFAR pledged $15 billion over 5 years to combat global HIV/AIDS.
Source$48 billion - PEPFAR was reauthorized on July 30, 2008 and authorized $48 billion through fiscal year 2013.
Source7,400 - Globally, there are 7,400 new HIV infections every day.
Source340 million - Each year there are 340 million new cases of curable sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
Source33.3 million - Worldwide there are approximately 33.3 million people living with HIV.
Source#1 - Globally, HIV is the leading cause of death and disease in women of reproductive age.
Source15.9 million - Of the 33.3 million adults living with HIV in 2009, 15.9 million were women.
UN Report: Maternal Deaths Dropped by Half Over 20-Year Span
UNITED NATIONS — The global mortality rate for women giving birth has fallen by half over the past two decades, a U.N. report released Wednesday said.
Better Treatment for HIV-Positive Pregnant Women
Voice of America, April 10, 2012 - The World Health Organization recently issued new guidelines to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV. The recommendations include getting more women on treatment sooner and staying on it for life. The guidelines have the support of the medical aid group Doctors Without Borders, also known as MSF.
The Gender-based Violence And HIV Connection
Voice of America, April 7, 2012 - The advancement of women’s health and their rights is one of the core principles of President Barack Obama’s Global Health Initiative. And so it is that the United States has rolled out a new initiative that will tackle one of the greatest threats to women’s health, HIV/AIDS, by attacking another scourge: gender-based violence.
Family planning: A force for good across Africa
Vanguard, April 3, 2012 - Last year, I visited a mother’s group in the Korogocho slum in Nairobi to learn more about family planning in Africa. At the end of our conversation, a woman named Mary Ann told me something I’ll never forget. She said she plans her family because she wants to “bring every good thing” to one child before she has another.
D.C. female condom program prevents HIV infections
The Washington Post, March 26, 2012 - A District program that distributes free female condoms in areas of the city with high HIV rates prevented enough infections in its first year to save over $8 million in future medical costs over and above the cost of the program, according to a new study.
The Integration of HIV and Gender-based Violence
The Wip, December 14, 2011 - While the number of new HIV infections has stabilized in recent years, in many parts of the world, women and girls continue to bear a disproportionate burden of the pandemic. In the Caribbean, for example, women account for more than half of people living with HIV, and young women are twice as likely to be HIV positive as young men.
Women living with HIV championing the response to AIDS in Kenya
More than 200 women living with HIV in Kenya committed to championing the response to AIDS in the country. The call for more involved action came at the end of a two-day National Leadership Conference for Women Living with HIV.
Women and HIV
What is it with women and girls? Why are we always left behind? Why can’t we choose the things we want to be a part of? Why must we always race to the front, rather than be left peacefully alone when we would rather not partake? Is it because, as women, we are strong, powerful, and the foundation of our society?
Ficha técnica: ¿Qué tiene que ver la planificación familiar con el VIH? Todo.
La planificación familiar voluntaria es un componente indispensable de la prevención y el tratamiento del VIH.
Cargar PDF
File Under: Fact Sheets
What Does Family Planning Have to do With HIV? Everything.
Voluntary family planning is an indispensible component of HIV prevention and treatment.
Download this PDFFile Under: Fact Sheets
Female Condoms and U.S. Foreign Assistance: An Unfinished Imperative for Women’s Health
Female Condoms and U.S. Foreign Assistance: An Unfinished Imperative for Women's Health, summarizes U.S. support for female condoms, identifies barriers, and offers concrete recommendations for improving U.S. efforts to increase access and availability of female condoms.
Download this PDFFile Under: Research Documents
Policy Recommendations: Married Women and HIV: Comprehensive Prevention
In the absence of community-based efforts to alter the social structures that promote infidelity, public health programs which aim to reduce married women’s risk by telling men to be faithful will not succeed.
Download this PDFFile Under: Fact Sheets
Research Summary: Marital Sex and the HIV Risk for Women Worldwide
Globally, women’s risk of contracting HIV is heightened if they are married, largely due to men’s extramarital sexual relationships. Despite this clear risk, current efforts to prevent the spread of HIV fall far short of protecting married women.
Marital Sex and HIV/AIDSFile Under: Fact Sheets
Human Trafficking, HIV/AIDS, and the Sex Sector
Current U.S. foreign policy relating to adults in the sex sector violates basic human rights, distracts from effective anti-trafficking efforts, and directly impedes global health programs intended to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS.
Download this PDFFile Under: Research Documents
Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Ethiopia
On July 5-9, 2010, three U.S. state legislators traveled to Ethiopia to better understand the role of U.S. foreign assistance aimed at improving the quality of reproductive health care. This report documents that trip and makes recommendations for improving effectiveness of U.S. foreign assistance to advance the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and girls in Ethiopia.
Download this PDFFile Under: Research Documents
Trends in U.S. Support for Global Female Condom Procurement, Distribution, and Programming
Historically, the U.S. government has shown strong support for international female condom procurement and distribution. However, U.S. leadership for female condom commodities has not extended to programming. This poster was developed for the 2010 XVIII International AIDS Conference.
Download this PDFFile Under: Research Documents
Women, Girls, and HIV Topics
Integrating HIV and Sexual and Reproductive Health Services
HIV prevention and treatment is intrinsically linked to sexual and reproductive health. However, PEPFAR programming addresses these critical health issues in isolation.
Female Condoms: Dual Protection
The female condom is currently the only available HIV-prevention and family-planning method that women can initiate themselves. Yet, globally, female condoms continue to be underfunded and underused because of cost, stigma, and a lack of political will.
Women Living With HIV: Testimonials
"I don't want, 20 years from now, another woman...talking about her experience (with HIV) because she didn't have information about her sexual and reproductive health."—Anna Irungu, Kenya
Women Living With HIV: Stigma
U.S. global HIV policy must advance both the human rights and the health needs of women living with HIV to make progress against the pandemic.
Email This Page
Share This Page
