The role of contraception in preventing HIV-positive births: global estimates and projections.

Background: Meeting the contraceptive needs of women living with HIV (WLHIV) has primary health benefits for women, in addition to being a key element to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission. This analysis will estimate the current number of infant HIV infections prevented by contraception in the era of increased HIV treatment coverage and; 2) model the additional HIV benefits of preventing unintended births to WLHIV.

Methods: Secondary data analysis was conducted using publicly available data from the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and Population Division, Demographic Health Surveys, and peer-review literature.

'Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance'? Towards a framework for assessing the health systems impact of the expanded Global Gag Rule.

During his first week in office, US President Donald J Trump issued a presidential memorandum to reinstate and broaden the reach of the Mexico City policy. The Mexico City policy (which was in place from 1985-1993, 1999-2000 and 2001-2009) barred foreign non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that received US government family planning (FP) assistance from using US funds or their own funds for performing, providing counselling, referring or advocating for safe abortions as a method of FP. The renamed policy, Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance (PLGHA), expands the Mexico City policy by applying it to most US global health assistance.

Behaviour change techniques in brief interventions to prevent HIV, STI and unintended pregnancies: A systematic review.

Background: Behaviour-change interventions have been consistently considered an essential part of comprehensive HIV, STI and unintended pregnancy prevention. In 2015, the World Health Organization reviewed and assessed existing evidence on brief behavioural interventions, leading to the publication of Brief sexuality-related communication: recommendations for a public health approach. This guideline recommends the use of brief behaviour intervention and communication programmes to promote sexual health and to prevent HIV, STIs, and unintended pregnancies in primary health services, particularly sexual and reproductive health services.

HIV/AIDS National Strategic Plans of Sub-Saharan African countries: an analysis for gender equality and sex-disaggregated HIV targets.

National Strategic Plans (NSPs) for HIV/AIDS are country planning documents that set priorities for programmes and services, including a set of targets to quantify progress toward national and international goals. The inclusion of sex-disaggregated targets and targets to combat gender inequality is important given the high disease burden among young women and adolescent girls in Sub-Saharan Africa, yet no comprehensive gender-focused analysis of NSP targets has been performed. This analysis quantitatively evaluates national HIV targets, included in NSPs from eighteen Sub-Saharan African countries, for sex-disaggregation.

Gender norms as health harms: reclaiming a life course perspective on sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Despite their demographic significance and the lifetime impact of gender disparities on their health and rights, women considered older than reproductive age are excluded from most investments in global public health. While development policies linking human rights with access to sexual and reproductive healthcare have yielded progress towards improving the status of women and girls, older women have not benefited from these initiatives. Yet as women grow older, they experience a range of health conditions rooted in their reproductive biology - from ageing with fistula, to cervical and breast cancers.

Gender-based violence and HIV across the life course: adopting a sexual rights framework to include older women.

It is widely known that older women are at lesser risk for sexual violence than younger women, but current inattention to older women in the gender-based violence (GBV) field has minimized the experiences of older women survivors at great detriment to their health and rights. For example, health providers seldom ask older women about their sexual activity and relationships, a neglect that leads to older women being excluded from necessary HIV testing and care as well as support services for abuse. This oversight is increasingly worrisome given the rise in new HIV infections among adults age 50 and older in recent years, with the majority of transmissions stemming from individuals unaware of their HIV-positive status.

ICPD beyond 2014: moving beyond missed opportunities and compromises in the fulfilment of sexual and reproductive health and rights.

The 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo marked a paradigm shift that took family planning out of a population control context and into the broader context of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). While progress has been made with increased access to family planning and a decrease in maternal deaths, we have not seen practical results for the majority of women and girls worldwide, who still experience unacceptably high rates of maternal deaths, unmet contraceptive needs and HIV infections. Three of the compromises made by governments at Cairo - integration, reproductive rights and resource allocation - hindered the fulfilment of women's and girls' SRHR.

From anti-natalist to ultra-conservative: restricting reproductive choice in Peru.

This article examines Peru's population policy since the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development and assesses to what extent its policies and programmes have affected reproductive health and rights. It is drawn from data collected during ongoing monitoring of sexual and reproductive health policies and programmes in Peru since 1998 for the Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE). Accomplishments since 1994 in Peru demonstrate good faith on the port of the government and foreign donors to make progress towards fulfilling the ICPD agenda by addressing key reproductive health concerns and promoting women's rights.

Gender dimensions of user fees: implications for women's utilization of health care.

This paper looks at the implications of user fees for women's utilization of health care services, based on selected studies in Africa. Lack of access to resources and inequitable decision-making power mean that when poor women face out-of-pocket costs such as user fees when seeking health care, the cost of care may become out of reach. Even though many poor women may be exempt from fees, there is little incentive for providers to apply exemptions, as they too are constrained by restrictive economic and health service conditions.

Transforming family planning programmes: towards a framework for advancing the reproductive rights agenda.

Recent international agreements call for the transformation of family planning programmes from a focus on demographic goals to the promotion of health and rights objectives. But the practical implications of this agenda for current and future programmes remain unclear. Public health resources are devoted to preventing illness and reducing the prevalence and incidence of disease across a population.

Women's participation in rural credit programmes in Bangladesh and their demand for formal health care: is there a positive impact?

Within the overall aim of poverty alleviation, development efforts have included credit and self-employment programmes. In Bangladesh, the major beneficiaries of such group-based credit programmes are rural women who use the loans to initiate small informal income-generating activities. This paper explores the benefits of women's participation in credit programmes on their own health seeking.