September 1, 2011

Discrimination Persists Against HIV-Positive Women in Africa

HIV-positive women in Africa experience pressure from husbands, partners, aid organizations and governments not to have children, theworld.org reports. Inaccurate information regarding mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV has led people to believe that a child will be born with the virus despite antiretroviral treatment as a successful intervention. Throughout the continent, physicians have been known to tell HIV-positive women to get tubal ligations, a sterilization process in which their tubes are tied; organizations offer payment for poor women with the virus to go on long-term birth control; and several doctors have been accused of sterilizing HIV-positive women without their consent. Uganda is even considering a bill that would make HIV transmission, including MTCT, a crime.

To read the article at theworld.org, click here.

Search: Africa, Uganda, MTCT, mother to child transmission, sterilization

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