Fight AIDS with Family Planning
- by: PAI
- recipient: President Obama
"The demand for family planning is so high. It is really embarrassing for women to have these frequent deliveries when they have other possible ways of preventing them. So access to family planning should be the first priority."
- Mary, midwife, Uganda
The situation Mary describes is not unusual; in fact it is far too common. 215 million women worldwide want to avoid pregnancy but are not using an effective method of contraception. The largest segment of these women live in sub-Saharan Africa and many are at risk of HIV. Women account for 60% of people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, and young women between the ages of 15-24 are up to eight-times more likely to be infected than men of the same age.
Without robust funding and policy support for family planning, the U.S. misses an opportunity to fully utilize all the tools available to eradicate the HIV/AIDS epidemic and promote healthy women and families.
Tell President Obama to remember that helping women stay healthy and plan their families is part of the solution as we work together towards the goal of an AIDS-free generation. It is the right thing to do and now is the time to act.
- Mary, midwife, Uganda
The situation Mary describes is not unusual; in fact it is far too common. 215 million women worldwide want to avoid pregnancy but are not using an effective method of contraception. The largest segment of these women live in sub-Saharan Africa and many are at risk of HIV. Women account for 60% of people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, and young women between the ages of 15-24 are up to eight-times more likely to be infected than men of the same age.
Without robust funding and policy support for family planning, the U.S. misses an opportunity to fully utilize all the tools available to eradicate the HIV/AIDS epidemic and promote healthy women and families.
Tell President Obama to remember that helping women stay healthy and plan their families is part of the solution as we work together towards the goal of an AIDS-free generation. It is the right thing to do and now is the time to act.
Dear President Obama,
December 1st marks World AIDS Day and this year's theme is "Getting to Zero." Much of this day will be focused on a celebration of new technology and science that can help prevent HIV through daily treatment and male circumcision. While we should celebrate those advances, we should also not lose sight of women who need both family planning and HIV services. One of the central strategies for preventing mother-to-child-transmission of HIV is to prevent unintended pregnancies through increasing access to voluntary family planning services. Providing women with access to family planning services as a part of HIV prevention, care and treatment can have a tremendous positive impact on health outcomes for women and children. Unfortunately, despite recent progress, meeting the demand for contraceptives at U.S.-supported HIV programs remains a challenge.
The U.S. has a longstanding history of leadership in global health and HIV/AIDS. With the creation of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in 2003, the U.S. provided unprecedented funds to help fight the global AIDS epidemic and put millions of people on treatment. Under your administration, PEPFAR has rightly focused funding towards more evidence-based prevention approaches, and PEPFAR programs are encouraged to provide family planning information and referrals. This is a positive step forward, but progress still falls far short of meeting the needs of women living with HIV, particularly in those countries without adequate family planning funding or programs. As part of its HIV/AIDS response, the U.S. should fully utilize all the tools available, including family planning, in order to promote healthy women and families.
As the U.S. reaffirms its commitment to creating an AIDS-free generation on this World AIDS Day, we call on you, Mr. President, to ensure that the needs of women and girls remain central to that effort. That means not only scaling up access to treatment, but scaling up a comprehensive set of HIV prevention and care services that includes contraception.
[Your comments will be added here]
Sign PetitionSign PetitionDecember 1st marks World AIDS Day and this year's theme is "Getting to Zero." Much of this day will be focused on a celebration of new technology and science that can help prevent HIV through daily treatment and male circumcision. While we should celebrate those advances, we should also not lose sight of women who need both family planning and HIV services. One of the central strategies for preventing mother-to-child-transmission of HIV is to prevent unintended pregnancies through increasing access to voluntary family planning services. Providing women with access to family planning services as a part of HIV prevention, care and treatment can have a tremendous positive impact on health outcomes for women and children. Unfortunately, despite recent progress, meeting the demand for contraceptives at U.S.-supported HIV programs remains a challenge.
The U.S. has a longstanding history of leadership in global health and HIV/AIDS. With the creation of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in 2003, the U.S. provided unprecedented funds to help fight the global AIDS epidemic and put millions of people on treatment. Under your administration, PEPFAR has rightly focused funding towards more evidence-based prevention approaches, and PEPFAR programs are encouraged to provide family planning information and referrals. This is a positive step forward, but progress still falls far short of meeting the needs of women living with HIV, particularly in those countries without adequate family planning funding or programs. As part of its HIV/AIDS response, the U.S. should fully utilize all the tools available, including family planning, in order to promote healthy women and families.
As the U.S. reaffirms its commitment to creating an AIDS-free generation on this World AIDS Day, we call on you, Mr. President, to ensure that the needs of women and girls remain central to that effort. That means not only scaling up access to treatment, but scaling up a comprehensive set of HIV prevention and care services that includes contraception.
[Your comments will be added here]
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