Perspectives of pregnant and breastfeeding women living with HIV on access to and retention in care in Malawi, Uganda and Zambia.

This report is published by the Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+) and the International Community of Women Living with HIV (ICW) in partnership with ICW Malawi, ICW Eastern Africa and the Network of Zambian People Living with HIV/AIDS (NZP+).

Love Positive Women: Romance Starts at Home (LPW) was first conceptualized in 2012 by Jessica Whitbread and implemented in February 2013. LPW’s purpose is to create space to celebrate and acknowledge women living with HIV, whether it is for oneself, a loved one or a community.

The premise is simple: using social media (Facebook) in conjunction with individual and collective actions as a means of sharing and supporting, women living with HIV are asked how they would love themselves and their community.

Others, whether they were friends, lovers, family, outreach workers or community partners, were asked how they were going to love women living with HIV as an act of solidarity.

In April 28 and 29 2015, Twenty two young women activists in the HIV and SRHR fields came together from Nigeria, India, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Russia, Jamaica, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Vietnam, in the aim of meaningfully improving the provision of SRHR services for all, including women living with HIV As part of a Nigeria-based project to facilitate a strong, inclusive SRHR movement that fully addresses the needs of women living with HIV. The International Community of Women Living with HIV (ICW), Women’s Global Networks for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR), and ICW West Africa convened a Young Women´s Strategy Meeting in Abuja, Nigeria. The objectives of the meeting were to:

• bring together national and international young women advocates, who will develop a global strategy and means of collaboration spring-boarding from Nigeria, to culminate in a global demand for change on days of action in 2015, ending on World AIDS Day December 1st, 2015;
• develop a shared understanding and enhance global recognition of SRHR violations faced by women living with HIV (both in Nigeria and worldwide), share real life testimonies from young women in Nigeria and around the world, and empower women living with HIV in the process of advocating for their SRHR, demanding that the SRHR needs of women living with HIV, with a particular focus on young women, be met throughout their lives and not just in the context of vertical transmission.

We share the report of the meeting and hope it can be used to support SRHR advocacy initiatives for adolescent girls and young women especially those living with HIV.

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The 59th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW59) marked the 20 year anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. This year was particularly interesting as it also marks the end of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) that were set in 2000 and were meant to be reached by 2015. With many of the goals only partially met, governments, civil society and other stakeholders have been feverishly discussing what to do next. ICW was organized and mobilized to advocate for the rights of women living with HIV at CSW59 to ensure that we remain on the agenda.

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 UN CSW59 Report (1000 KB)