Women’s Health & HIV

When AIDS emerged in the 1980s, most of those affected were men. Today, however, women account for over of the 33 million people living with HIV worldwide, and AIDS is the leading cause of death for women of childbearing age. In recent years, the number of HIV-positive women and girls has increased in every region of the world, with rates rising most rapidly in Eastern Europe, Asia, and Latin America. In sub-Saharan Africa, 76 per cent of the young people (aged 15-24 years) living with HIV are female.

Pangaea is a critical part of an emerging effort to generate the political will and financial commitments needed to fulfill Millennium Development Goal 5: to reduce maternal mortality and achieve universal access to reproductive health. For MDG 5 to be achieved, the world's commitment to and investment in the global response to AIDS must be sustained:

Pangaea is developing initiatives around the world focused on women's health, including special programs for women and girls designed to more closely link HIV prevention and treatment activities with sexual and reproductive, and maternal and child health. Pangaea's programs also address the social and economic factors which increase HIV vulnerability for women and girls, such as gender-based violence and inequities in educational and economic opportunities.

Current projects include:

Health Systems Strengthening for HIV and Maternal Health in Zimbabwe -- Pangaea is working in partnership with Africa University, Zimbabwe AIDS Prevention Programme, University of Zimbabwe and Chitungwize Hospital Opportunistic Infection Clinic to improve the uptake of services for pregnant women, to ensure their access to the full range of HIV and reproductive health services, and to reduce vertical transmission among those who are HIV infected. 

SHAZ! in Zimbabwe -- SHAZ! is a research intervention addressing economic livelihoods, life skills, gender inequities and linkages to HIV/SRH care focused on improving health outcomes among young women and girls.