The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) reauthorization bill should address the importance of family-planning programs in HIV/AIDS care and treatment, says Pat Daoust, a nurse and the Health Action AIDS Campaign director for Physicians for Human Rights, in a Boston Globe opinion piece (boston.com, 5/26).
“The bill coming before the Senate makes no mention of linking HIV and family-planning services,” says Daoust. “To avoid controversy with conservative policymakers, the bill’s Democratic drafters left linkages out completely.”
According to Daoust, contrary to popular beliefs that “family planning” is a code word for abortion, family planning and reproductive health services include prenatal care, safe labor and delivery, postpartum and newborn care, access to contraception and treatment for sexually transmitted infections. “Linking women's health care with HIV services should be obvious,” she says.
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Beth Benne, RN, is HIV negative, but
the virus has impacted her life. She currently supervises a biannual HIV/AIDS awareness week as
the director of the student health center at Pierce College, a
community commuter school in Woodland Hills, California.
Woman of the Month is supported by exclusive advertising from Gilead.
Overheard in the Women's Forum
"I recently met a guy who is negative. I did tell him about my status and he decided to kiss me anyway (we didn't go further than that). But a day later, he called and said that he actually had a mouth ulcer that time when we kissed and he was very worried. Asked if he can get the virus from me that way. For that moment, I felt so insulted and yet I felt so bad. It was my first time having a contact with a "negative" guy."
