“Best-Kept Secret” for HIV Prevention
Family Health Internation (FHI) research chief Ward Cates is quoted in a Washington Post article by Craig Timberg saying that birth control is Africa’s “best-kept secret” for preventing the transmission of HIV.
173,000 HIV-infected births each year are averted with contraception, and tens of thousands of more infections could be reliably and less expensively prevented by improving access to birth control in Africa.
Timberg interviews a 27 year-old widow who, after being diagnosed with HIV in 2004, said she “wanted to be done” with childbearing.
Three years later, she has a new set of twins who may be infected with HIV.
According to Timberg, her attempts at family planning were
frustrated by a combination of poverty, limited access to birth control and medical problems that made it unsafe for her to use contraceptive pills or injections. [Her partner] …refused to use condoms, she said.
She gave birth in her dirt-floored hut with no antiretroviral medication to prevention HIV transmission.
In Family Planning for Women with HIV, the INFO Project reported that women with HIV who have not developed AIDS can safely use nearly all contraceptive methods.
Providing health care workers with evidence-based medicine and access to counseling messages–for example, to help women with HIV communicate with their partners–can save lives.
In an ongoing virtual discussion Catherine Richey is leading on the Implementing best Practices Knowledge Gateway, many participants have written in to share their tips on the best way to integrate family planning with HIV care and reproductive health services. 262 members from more than 55 countries including Ethiopia, Iran and Senegal are now participating in the discussion, which wraps up Friday December 21.
Click here to see the integration community the INFO Project supports.
del.icio.us Profile
Facebook Profile
MySpace Profile
Theresa said,
December 18, 2007 @ 1:01 pm
Recently, I benefited from hearing a noted HIV expert speak on current issues with HIV. During the question and answer session, I asked him, “Do you think enough attention is being paid by policy makers and funders to the importance of integration of HIV/AIDS and family planning services for HIV prevention?” The expert looked surprised at my question (making me think this issue wasn’t on his radar). He finally answered, “Probably not,” but went on to say that evidence was needed to bring attention to the importance of integrated services in the HIV community. To me, this article clearly articulates the evidence! The article states, “The group has found that programs providing antiretroviral drugs to pregnant women prevented 101,000 cases of pediatric HIV between 1999 and 2006. Contraception, meanwhile, averts the births of 173,000 infected babies each year, the group says.” I firmly believe–and evidence supports–that family planning counseling as part of antenatal care is crucial to making needed gains in HIV prevention.