Protecting women from HIV

Swaziland joined the world this past week in the celebration of Women’s Day. The role women play in home and society was recognised.
Often the commemoration emphasised the economic empowerment of women and how this improves the fortunes of family and nation. This is a good and appropriate approach, but in order for the social emancipation and economic empowerment of women to be realised, it is necessary for women to stay health by amongst other things sidestepping the AIDS epidemic. Online pharmacy viagra – cheap viagra professional 100mg.
In the spirit of this notion – that protection of women against HIV should be at the forefront of our thinking – a list of five ways this can be accomplished was distributed this week to health NGOs worldwide. Here they are:
ONE: An educated girl and woman is less likely to be infected with HIV.
According to UNAIDS, illiterate women are four times more likely to believe there is no way to prevent HIV infection, while in Africa and Latin America, girls with higher levels of education tend to delay first sexual experience and are more likely to insist their partner use a condom.
Educating girls has the added advantage of delaying their marriage and increasing their earning ability, both of which reduce their vulnerability to HIV.
Educated women are also more likely to access health services for themselves and their children, and to oppose negative cultural practices that can compromise their health.
TWO: A clinic nearby is a life saver.
In many developing countries, women have very limited access to vital reproductive health services. A combination of biological and social factors means women are more vulnerable to sexually transmitted infections (STIs), which, if left untreated, increase their vulnerability to HIV. Women living in humanitarian crises are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence and require services such as free, easily available condoms and safe blood for transfusions.
Improving access to reproductive health services enables women to make informed choices in determining family size and preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission.
THREE: Ending violence against women and girls is essential.
Throughout the world, one in three women has been beaten, experienced sexual violence or otherwise been abused in their lifetime, according to the UN. One in five will be a victim of rape or attempted rape.
More often than not, the perpetrators are known to the women.
Practices such as early marriage and human trafficking all increase women’s vulnerability to HIV, but more accepted forms of violence, such as marital rape, also play a large part in increasing women’s HIV risk.
According to UNAIDS, investment in HIV programming policies and addressing gender inequality and gender-based violence will help to achieve universal targets of HIV prevention, treatment and care.
FOUR: The economic empowerment of women boosts their health.
In his book, Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism, Richard Robbins states that women do two-thirds of the world’s work but receive 10 percent of the world’s income and own just own own percent of the means of production.
Poverty prevents poor women from controlling when sexual intercourse takes place and if a condom is used, and often forces women into risky transactional sex to feed themselves and their families.
According to a study conducted last year on the subject, empowerment activities such as micro-finance give women access to and control over vital economic resources, ultimately enhancing their ability not only to mitigate the impact of HIV, but also to be less vulnerable to HIV.
FIVE: Men’s concern with women’s health is beneficial.
Men cannot be bystanders when it comes to the health of their wives, daughters and female family members.
They must get involved. More often than not, men control the dynamics of how, when and where sex happens. Encouraging more men to use condoms consistently has the knock-on effect of protecting their sexual partners from unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.
By looking after their own health, men can boost the health of their wives. Men are less likely than women to seek health services; in the case of men involved with multiple women, this means that sexually-transmitted infections remain untreated for long periods while their female partners are also at risk of infection.
Teaching boys and young men to respect women, to be more involved in family activities and to avoid negative behaviour such as gender violence and alcohol abuse helps groom a generation of men who are less likely to take risks that endanger themselves and their families.

Defunding measure would harm women’s health

As a member of the clergy, a board member of Planned Parenthood of Indiana, and a member of the national Clergy Advisory Board to Planned Parenthood Federation of American, I am deeply distressed by a recent vote in the U.S. House of Representatives and the proposed bills in our own Indiana legislature attacking Planned Parenthood and the vital medical services this organization provides.

House approval of Indiana Rep. Mike Pence’s amendment to eliminate all funding from Planned Parenthood would have a devastating impact on the health centers that provide preventive care like family planning, annual exams, cancer screenings, contraception and treatments for sexually transmitted diseases. His amendment would foist terrible hardship on people already in great need, leaving women without access to family planning services, Pap tests, and cervical cancer screenings.

Jewish tradition is emphatic about the importance of providing health care for its most vulnerable residents. Supporting Planned Parenthood in its efforts to reach millions of underserved men and women honors our religious precepts.

One in five American women has received care from Planned Parenthood during her lifetime, and last year 3 million patients came to one of its more than 800 health centers. It is difficult to understand why members of the House who say they are opposed to abortion would do so much to undermine the family planning and contraception that prevents it.

Fish, omega 3 reduce eye disease risk

Eating fish that contains omega-3 is associated with a significantly reduced risk of developing age-related macular degeneration, U.S. researchers say.

William G. Christen of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston and colleagues collected data on 38,022 women — part of the Women’s Health Study — who had not been diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration.

The women’s consumption of food was ascertained via questionnaire at the beginning of the study and included information on intake of docosahexaenoic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid — omega-3 fatty acids found in fish — and arachidonic acid and linoleic acid — omega-6 fatty acids.

The women were tracked for about 10 years of follow-up and 235 cases of age-related macular degeneration were reported.

The study, published online ahead of print in the June issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, found women who consumed the most DHA had a 38 percent lower risk of developing age-related macular degeneration than women who consumed the lowest amount.

Consumption of one or more servings of fish per week, when compared to less than one serving of fish per month, was associated with a 42 percent lower risk of age-related macular degeneration.

“This lower risk appeared to be due primarily to consumption of canned tuna fish and dark-meat fish,” Christen says.