On Monday, the World Health Organization (WHO), an agency of the UN, released its first-ever study of women's health worldwide, Women and Health: Today's Evidence, Tomorrow's Agenda. The findings of the study, although perhaps not surprising to those of us who work in the field of international women's health, are still pretty outrageous: H.I.V. is the leading cause of death and disease among women between the ages of 15 and 44.
This is a sad and somewhat overwhelming statistic for me personally, since I view so many HIV infections among women as preventable with the right policy steps by the U.S. government and other governments of the world, and the right knowledge and information
Yes, I said it. Preventable. Although the WHO reports that unprotected sex is the leading risk factor in developing countries, don't let that statistic fool you. "Unprotected sex" may technically be the leading risk factor, but that doesn't tell the whole story. As the president of my NGO points out, women's vulnerability is increased by preventable conditions such as unmet need for contraceptives, insufficient legal and social protection for women against widespread sexual coercion and violence, social encouragement of the marriage of young girls to much older men, and lack of access to information about HIV, sexuality, and the availability of reproductive services.
Lastly, although this particularly disturbing statistic is deservedly getting a lot of coverage, check out some of the report's other findings, as summarized on Akimbo:
• Women provide the bulk of health care, but rarely receive the care they need
• Women live longer than men but these extra years are not always healthy
• Despite some biological advantages, women's health suffers from their lower socio-economic status
• Perhaps least surprisingly, policy change and action is needed within the health sector and beyond to ensure full protection of women's health and rights
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You seem to have accidentally left "between the ages of 15 and 44" out of the headline and ended up with an incorrect statement.
The report says "Globally, heart attacks and stroke, often thought to be 'male' problems, are the two leading killers of women."
Page 9 of the report gives the ten leading causes of death in females across the world, along with their percentages, as
1. Ischaemic heart disease (12.2%)
2. Stroke (11.1%)
3. Lower respiratory infections (7.3%)
4. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (5.1%)
5. Diarrhoeal diseases (3.8%)
6. HIV/AIDS (3.7%)
7. Diabetes mellitus (2.3%)
8. Prematurity and low birth weight (2.1%)
9. Neonatal infections (2.0%)
10. Hypertensive heart disease (1.9%)
Anti-prostitution pledge anyone? It's been ruled unconstitutional in the US but international NGO's are still required to sign it. That's the pledge NGOs have to take saying they won't give condoms or services to prostitutes, or they don't get USAID funding.
Wow, that sounds totally insane. I've heard of USAID requiring NGOs to take a pledge that they are opposed to prostitution (which is already counterproductive and dumb) before getting any funding, but not actually demanding that they refuse condoms to prostitutes.
Can you provide a source? I googled around for USAID, prostitution, and condoms, but can't find what you're talking about.
They can give condoms to whoever they want as long as they don't want USAID funding. How is signing a pledge not to support prostitution NOT a restriction on giving prostitutes the tools of their trade, though? Organizations which continue to offer services to sex workers without pressuring or outright requiring sex workers to find other employ don't qualify for funding, they lose their funding. If they work with groups working to promote sex worker rights they lose their funding.
http://sexworkerspresent.blip.tv/file/181155/
This is just really appaling, although I sadly have to say that it doesn't surprise me. These kind of statistics shouldn't seem so... normalized to us. That really angers me.
Hmmm. I'm not sure I've seen many prominent news distributors reporting this. Ugh.
We need HIV/AIDS education. It's very important!! CDC has granted CSU $1.9M for HIV/AIDS education.
The number of members on the largest HIV dating&support site == Positivefish.com has reached 500,000 members
OMG! Why so many guys and girls on the site are very sexy? Why so many people are infected by HIV? There is no
doubt that we need SEX-ED
""Unprotected sex" may technically be the leading risk factor, but that doesn't tell the whole story."
In addition to the examples listed in this post, I think another barrier that leads to unprotected sex is the fact that many women are not able to negotiate condom usage with their partners due to a wide range of factors...maybe there is intimate partner abuse going on, maybe in her culture if she knows too much about sex and asks him to wear a condom she is seen as "loose" or that she doesn't trust him or by asking she is accusing him of cheating, or maybe he insists that it doesn't feel as good for him with a condom. Seems like women have little agency to make choices about contraception and have those choices be respected.
In addition to the examples listed in this post, I think another barrier that leads to unprotected sex is the fact that many women are not able to negotiate condom usage with their partners due to a wide range of factors...maybe there is intimate partner abuse going on, maybe in her culture if she knows too much about sex and asks him to wear a condom she is seen as "loose" or that she doesn't trust him or by asking she is accusing him of cheating, or maybe he insists that it doesn't feel as good for him with a condom. Seems like women have little agency to make choices about contraception and have those choices be respected.