HIV: Women get hope in Microbicides
Aug 17, 2006
ANGELINA Namiba from Kenya, a mother to an eight-year-old daughter, is HIV-positive. She is fighting all preconceptions so that women living with HIV/AIDS do not continue to endure violence, rejection and abandonment when they are diagnosed HIV-positive.
By Graca Machel
ANGELINA Namiba from Kenya, a mother to an eight-year-old daughter, is HIV-positive. She is fighting all preconceptions so that women living with HIV/AIDS do not continue to endure violence, rejection and abandonment when they are diagnosed HIV-positive.
Angelina’s experience as a woman living with HIV has led her on a crusade. She advocates for microbicides as part of a comprehensive AIDS response for women everywhere. “I advocate for microbicides because I want other women to be able to have relationships, children and friends,†says Angelina Namiba.
“I want my daughter and her generation of young women of tomorrow to stay alive.â€
At the same time HIV rates among women are exploding, women like her, who are desperate to save their sisters, daughters, nieces and friends from becoming infected with the virus, are among the most powerful advocates for HIV prevention options for women.
Angelina’s story is all too common in Africa and other parts of the world. For that reason both of us have decided to join our sisters and strengthen and amplify the voices of women like Angelina.
Twenty-five years into the HIV/AIDS pandemic, HIV rates among women have sky-rocketed. Women’s biological vulnerability to HIV infection is further exacerbated by widespread social inequality and poverty. Women and girls now make up 60 percent of Africa’s HIV infections and nearly half of all HIV infections worldwide. In the hardest-hit countries like Botswana, South Africa and Swaziland, AIDS is erasing the hard-won gains in life expectancy achieved over the last 50 years.
Abstinence, faithfulness and condom use has worked for many women, but it is clearly not enough. Because of social and economic inequality, millions of women and girls—especially in many developing countries—are not empowered to make life saving decisions about their reproductive health.
Being faithful and married is one of the biggest risk factors for acquiring HIV for many women— especially in Africa. Too often, those who are infected have only had one sexual partner: their husbands. For many women, being poor and young are the most significant risk factors for acquiring HIV infection.
As the world gathers in Toronto this week for the XVI International AIDS Conference, it is clear that prevention strategies and programmes have to include new tools for women to protect themselves from HIV infection. As we work to deliver on universal access of treatment through the provision of anti-retrovirals, new prevention tools must be part of our battle. Microbicides are one of the most promising and empowering tools being developed.
Microbicides are vaginal products that will block sexual transmission of HIV. Currently, five microbicides are in large-scale clinical trials and a new generation of microbicides containing anti-retroviral drugs is in safety studies. If one of these products is proven safe and effective, a microbicide could be available in five to seven years.
Researchers are working to develop microbicides with both contraceptive and non-contraceptive properties allowing women to have children without putting themselves at risk of HIV infection. Even a partially effective microbicide could prevent millions of new infections and save the lives of women, men and children.
For both of us—one who lives in sub-Saharan Africa and one who visits there often—we have been moved by stories like Angelina’s to join the campaign for the discovery of a microbicide.
Women should not need their husbands’ permission to protect themselves from HIV. We call on governments and foundations to double their investment in microbicide development from a 2005 level of $160 million to $320 million a year until microbicides are licensed.
We call on leaders across the developing world to strengthen and expand national health care systems to support clinical trials, engage communities in research, build local capacity to carry out trials and support the infrastructure to deliver microbicides when they are ready for use.
Microbicides will help overturn the fundamental imbalance that makes so many women vulnerable to HIV infection. Scientific momentum must go hand in hand with sustained political commitment to deliver on promises to give women this vital new prevention tool. The battle against HIV/AIDS can be won. We need to do everything we can to give women a fighting chance. Not long ago people would ask “what are microbicides?â€
Today women like Angelina ask “when will microbicides be available?†We must ensure we can answer that question very soon.
The writer is the President for the Foundation for Community Development in Mozambique.
She co-authored the article with Hilde Johnson, a former Norwegian Minister of International Development. Both are members of the Women’s Leadership Network for Microbicides
ANGELINA Namiba from Kenya, a mother to an eight-year-old daughter, is HIV-positive. She is fighting all preconceptions so that women living with HIV/AIDS do not continue to endure violence, rejection and abandonment when they are diagnosed HIV-positive.
Angelina’s experience as a woman living with HIV has led her on a crusade. She advocates for microbicides as part of a comprehensive AIDS response for women everywhere. “I advocate for microbicides because I want other women to be able to have relationships, children and friends,†says Angelina Namiba.
“I want my daughter and her generation of young women of tomorrow to stay alive.â€
At the same time HIV rates among women are exploding, women like her, who are desperate to save their sisters, daughters, nieces and friends from becoming infected with the virus, are among the most powerful advocates for HIV prevention options for women.
Angelina’s story is all too common in Africa and other parts of the world. For that reason both of us have decided to join our sisters and strengthen and amplify the voices of women like Angelina.
Twenty-five years into the HIV/AIDS pandemic, HIV rates among women have sky-rocketed. Women’s biological vulnerability to HIV infection is further exacerbated by widespread social inequality and poverty. Women and girls now make up 60 percent of Africa’s HIV infections and nearly half of all HIV infections worldwide. In the hardest-hit countries like Botswana, South Africa and Swaziland, AIDS is erasing the hard-won gains in life expectancy achieved over the last 50 years.
Abstinence, faithfulness and condom use has worked for many women, but it is clearly not enough. Because of social and economic inequality, millions of women and girls—especially in many developing countries—are not empowered to make life saving decisions about their reproductive health.
Being faithful and married is one of the biggest risk factors for acquiring HIV for many women— especially in Africa. Too often, those who are infected have only had one sexual partner: their husbands. For many women, being poor and young are the most significant risk factors for acquiring HIV infection.
As the world gathers in Toronto this week for the XVI International AIDS Conference, it is clear that prevention strategies and programmes have to include new tools for women to protect themselves from HIV infection. As we work to deliver on universal access of treatment through the provision of anti-retrovirals, new prevention tools must be part of our battle. Microbicides are one of the most promising and empowering tools being developed.
Microbicides are vaginal products that will block sexual transmission of HIV. Currently, five microbicides are in large-scale clinical trials and a new generation of microbicides containing anti-retroviral drugs is in safety studies. If one of these products is proven safe and effective, a microbicide could be available in five to seven years.
Researchers are working to develop microbicides with both contraceptive and non-contraceptive properties allowing women to have children without putting themselves at risk of HIV infection. Even a partially effective microbicide could prevent millions of new infections and save the lives of women, men and children.
For both of us—one who lives in sub-Saharan Africa and one who visits there often—we have been moved by stories like Angelina’s to join the campaign for the discovery of a microbicide.
Women should not need their husbands’ permission to protect themselves from HIV. We call on governments and foundations to double their investment in microbicide development from a 2005 level of $160 million to $320 million a year until microbicides are licensed.
We call on leaders across the developing world to strengthen and expand national health care systems to support clinical trials, engage communities in research, build local capacity to carry out trials and support the infrastructure to deliver microbicides when they are ready for use.
Microbicides will help overturn the fundamental imbalance that makes so many women vulnerable to HIV infection. Scientific momentum must go hand in hand with sustained political commitment to deliver on promises to give women this vital new prevention tool. The battle against HIV/AIDS can be won. We need to do everything we can to give women a fighting chance. Not long ago people would ask “what are microbicides?â€
Today women like Angelina ask “when will microbicides be available?†We must ensure we can answer that question very soon.
The writer is the President for the Foundation for Community Development in Mozambique.
She co-authored the article with Hilde Johnson, a former Norwegian Minister of International Development. Both are members of the Women’s Leadership Network for Microbicides