Impact of HIV Treatment Scale-Up on Women's Reproductive Health Care and Reproductive Rights in Southern Africa

Abstract

The HIV epidemic has changed the face of women's reproductive health across southern Africa. In some circles, there have been calls for restrictions on women's reproductive rights, focusing particularly on the spread of HIV between sexual partners and from mother to child. However, during the past decade, public health attention and resources for the clinical care of HIV-infected individuals living in Africa have led to advances in women's reproductive health services. As many programs have recognized that effective HIV care and treatment services must link to other areas of primary care, key reproductive health services such as those providing contraception and barrier methods are commonly integrated into antiretroviral therapy services. In much of the region, this programmatic focus has helped increase attention on the ground to women's reproductive rights. However, in many settings, policies explicitly supporting the reproductive rights of HIV-infected women have lagged. Important gaps remain both in policy development and in the design, evaluation, and implementation of interventions promoting women's reproductive health and rights at the service delivery level.