Women Need More Help In AIDS Battle, Experts Say

In an article titled Women Need More Health in AIDS Battle, Experts Say, the Huffington Post reports on recent conversations at the International AIDS Conference about the need for more focused efforts to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS among women, with special attention to adolescent girls who are often at an elevated risk. Discussions also centered around the need go beyond prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) and implement policies to treat women not only during pregnancy but also beyond pregnancy.

From the story:

Few countries automatically continue providing the life-saving drugs for mom after her baby is weaned, unless her own condition worsens or she gets pregnant again, Luo said.

“Orphaning will continue to increase if we don’t actually provide treatment for women,” she said.

New guidelines from the World Health Organization encourage countries to start lifelong treatment for all pregnant women, regardless of how healthy they may appear between pregnancies. Luo praised Malawi as the first low-income country to adopt that strategy, and she said Botswana, Rwanda, South Africa and Zambia are considering the same change.

Read the full story here.