Women, reproductive rights, and HIV/AIDS: issues on which research and interventions are still needed.

From 2002 to 2005, two literature reviews identified a number of reproductive health issues that appeared to be relatively neglected in relation to HIV/AIDS: contraceptive information tailored to the needs of HIV-positive people; voluntary HIV counselling and testing during antenatal care, labour, and delivery; parenting options for HIV-positive people besides pregnancy through unprotected intercourse (i.e. assisted conception and legal adoption or foster care); unwanted pregnancy; and abortion-related care. An additional finding was that stigma and discrimination were frequently cited as barriers to enjoyment of reproductive rights by HIV-positive women. Subsequently, a pilot project was initiated in which non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in developing countries used benchmarks to ascertain whether these neglected issues were addressed in local programmes and interventions serving women affected by HIV and AIDS. The benchmarks also assessed whether policies and programmes paid attention to the human and reproductive rights of HIV-positive women. This paper describes the main findings from the two exercises in relation to contraception for women living with HIV or AIDS, abortion-related care, legal adoption by HIV-positive parents, and reproductive rights. It concludes with a number of recommendations on topics to be incorporated into the international research agenda, policies, and programmes in the field of HIV/AIDS.

Gender or sex: who cares?: skills-building resource pack on gender and reproductive health for adolescents and youth workers

This publication provides information which help young people to develop personal qualities such as being able to recognise and deal with gender biases what may affect their sexual and reproductive health; by identifying situations and factors that increase and decrease their sexual and reproductive health risks. Participatory exercises included in this manual contribute to adolescents empowering on their sexual and reproductive health rights