What Works for Women and Girls

AIDS cases reported from 1982 to 2006, 2,668 were 50 or older. The proportion of patientsage 50 or older has steadily increased from 11% in 2000 to 15% in 2005. Of the 1,686 aged 50or older from 2000 to 2006, 37% were women (Sanches and Guillen, 2008). “Elderly grandmothers…appearto be forgotten in terms of their need for HIV/AIDS prevention informationand education” (Sepulveda et al., 2007). Due to ARV therapy, more HIV-positive women arereaching menopause. Interventions for post-menopausal HIV-negative women, such as evaluationof cardiovascular risk, osteoporosis, etc. are also believed to benefit women living withHIV (Conde et al., 2009).Women With DisabilitiesWomen with disabilities are also at risk for HIV but are often overlooked in HIV preventionstrategies. A study in South Africa interviewed twenty-five people with disabilities and caregivers,and found that people with disabilities are “abused through sexual purification rituals,sexual exploitation and have less access to prevention and treatment” due to cultural misconceptionssurrounding disability (Hanass-Hancock, 2008). Those with disabilities also experiencestigma and a lack of recognition of their sexual activity.Interventions are needed to integrate HIV/AIDS prevention and services with disability andmental health services. The Brazilian National AIDS Program launched a national campaign(year not specified) to integrate STI/AIDS services with disabilities care and found that it wasdifficult to dispel misconceptions about sexuality and behavior of people with disabilities. Theprogram also found a lack of accessible information for people with disabilities and culturaland sexual practices involving people with disabilities need to be considered in order to improveHIV/AIDS prevention efforts (Drummond Cordeiro et al., 2008).A program in Uganda (year not specified) integrated women with disabilities into HIV/AIDS services by combining the efforts of AIDS Services Organizations and Disabled PeoplesOrganizations to remove barriers of physical access and stigma. The program found thatDisabled Peoples Organizations and AIDS Services Organizations wanted to integrate servicesbut lacked capacity, funding or acknowledgment. They also discovered that explicit effort toconnect women with disabilities to AIDS services resulted in reducing stigma of both groupsand increasing the quantity of people accessing AIDS services (Tataryn and Shome, 2008).Services specifically for disabled populations are more likely to be used than general services.For example, a 2003–2007 study in Kenya that provided deaf mobile VCT services indicatedthat deaf clients were more likely to access deaf mobile VCT services than regular VCT services.In Kenya, it is estimated that more than 3 million people are deaf, with higher rates of HIV.Deaf mobile VCT services use trained deaf personnel to provide counseling. 2,098 deaf clientsaccessed deaf mobile VCT services as compared to 1,536 deaf clients accessing regular VCTservices (Sati, 2008).Little evidence is available regarding what works specifically for women over the age of fiftyand disabled women and much more research is necessary.WHAT WORKS FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS47