EVERY NEW HIV INFECTION involves an HIV+ person. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that there are 600,000-900,000 people living with HIV in the US. Yet very few prevention interventions have been directed to HIV+ women and men. People who are HIV+ deserve to have interventions to help them stay safe and play an active role in stopping the epidemic.
CORE Center, Chicago, IL. and CDC, Atlanta, GA - Spring 2003
Although all women should be screened for HIV during the antenatal period, an estimated 10%-15% of HIV-infected mothers do not access care before labor and delivery (L&D). Point-of-care rapid HIV testing in obstetric units could help L&D staff identify and offer prophylactic treatment to HIV-infected women in time to reduce perinatal HIV transmission.
Dedicated to providing free counseling services to individuals who are HIV infected and their immediate family, Women Alive's Mental Health Programs offer individuals a safe and non-judgmental environment to discuss issues that arise in their daily life. Many of our clients struggle with concerns around disclosure, initiating and maintaining relationships, isolation and decreased sense of self worth. Counseling services include individual, family, couples, and a woman's therapy group.
For 15 years, certain scientists, gravely underfunded and mostly dismissed by the AIDS research mainstream, have toiled to make this dream a reality. Now the fruit of their labor is ripening, just as the cause of women enters the vanguard of AIDS consciousness. Their inventions are called microbicides -- and while the unfortunate name sounds like a fungus-eradication product, if all goes well, these woman controlled "chemical condoms" could reach the over-the-counter market in five years and become the biggest reproductive-health innovation since the birth-control pill.
In Washington, DC, Bipartisan members of the U.S. Senate today introduced legislation to accelerate the development of HIV microbicides, a technology aimed to put HIV prevention in the hands of millions of women around the world.
Here at Women Alive we understand that communication is important! And that you as an HIV-infected woman are important! And foremost, that your questions deserve an answer and not just any answer, but the one that you can understand and one in which you are satisfied. We are piloting a new concept in the HIV arena. A column that will provide you with a safe, confidential forum to ask questions that you feel are important and answers that you can understand.
This information is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.