The results of the largest ever international survey of women living with HIV were formally published last week and they do not make a comfortable read. The gender-based violence (GBV) and mental health issues faced by women living with HIV after their diagnosis are both very high and have a huge impact on their lives. This includes GBV in healthcare settings. Yet as the findings reveal, neither of these issues is being addressed by global policy makers.
The survey, which formed part of a global “values and preferences” consultation, is not the first of its kind, but is the largest, in terms of numbers and its international scale. Conducted in 2014, it was commissioned by WHO as they begin the process of updating their 2006 Guidelines on the SRH of women living with HIV. Furthermore, it represents a “first” in terms of using participatory methods in WHO guideline development.
The consultation, comprising an on-line survey and a series of focus group discussions, was led by Salamander Trust, with ATHENA, GNP+, ICW, and the Transgender Law Center, among others. A global reference group, made up of 14 women living with HIV from around the world and representing women from different backgrounds and contexts, conducted a pre-consultation to elicit priority themes to include in the survey, and helped roll out the survey among their networks and communities. Nearly 1,000 women living with HIV from 94 countries engaged in the survey, including sizeable numbers of women with experience of drug use, sex work, homelessness, prison or detention, rape or sexual violence, migration, and conflict, transgender and lesbian, bisexual and other women who have sex with women and heterosexual women.
