What Works for Women and Girls

tion (Kershaw et al., 2006). “…Healthcare providers need to address the issue of postpartumsexual activity and contraception early after delivery or even late in the last trimester to providewomen with the appropriate knowledge to allow them to make informed decisions regardingtheir reproductive futures” (Balkus et al., 2007: 28). Providers should also not place undueburdens on women who test positive. For example, in Ethiopia, women who test HIV-positiveare told to inform their husbands to come to health services to get tested for HIV (CHANGE,2009).Confi dentiality Must Be MaintainedConfidentiality of all test results should be paramount, yet it is not always followed in practice.Stronger efforts are needed to ensure that provision of HIV test results of pregnant womento their male partners or anyone else should only be done with women’s expressed permission.Policies should detail the risks of testing and clarity for women who refuse to test. Also,policies should specify whether parental consent is required to test infants. Pregnant womenmust have the opportunity to learn their HIV status but the autonomy to decline HIV testingwithout penalty in the health care setting. Confidentiality of test results is critical (Mamanet al., 2008c). Women who test HIV-positive should be able to access PMTCT services, withfollow-up treatment for herself and her child. HIV testing and PMTCT services have beensuccessfully provided to women in all kinds of setting, including in refugee camps (Rutta et al.,2008). Using community volunteers to provide HIV testing to pregnant women may increasethe number of women tested, especially where access to clinics is a challenge, as in Zimbabwe(Shetty et al., 2005).The following interventions are specifically related to HIV testing and counseling in thecontext of preventing mother to child transmission. Please see also Chapter 6. HIV Testing andCounseling for Women for additional evidence on what works in HIV testing for all women.WHAT WORKS FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS223