Showing 1 - 20 of 24 Results for "Ukraine"

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Criminalization of HIV transmission may lead pregnant women to not seek testing and care. A study in Ukraine with pregnant women found that providers told women who tested HIV-positive that they carry criminal liability and others did not access care. A global review found that in some countries, vertical transmission is criminalized.
Antenatal Care - Testing and Counseling
1 study
Interventions are needed for street youths who have high rates of HIV and intravenous drug use. A systematic, community-based, multicity assessment of street youth in Ukraine, of whom a quarter were girls, found high rates of HIV and low condom use and high rates of sharing needles, especially among orphans and who were injecting drug users.
Orphans and Vulnerable Children
1 study
Access to antiretroviral treatment (and minimization of treatment interruption for those with access) is needed in prisons. Screening and treatment for TB is needed in prison settings as well. A study found that while one in three participants in HIV services has been in prison, officials report that antiretroviral therapy was available to fewer than one in ten of over 6,000 people with HIV incarcerated in 2009.
Women Prisoners and Female Partners of Male Prisoners
1 study
Rapid testing is needed in some countries so that people can quickly learn their serostatus without long follow up. In some countries, HIV testing is only done by ELISA tests, takes one month for test results and requires follow up appointments.
HIV Testing and Counseling for Women
1 study
Efforts are needed to ensure HIV-positive women have information on birthing options and the right to make choices based on that information. Studies found that HIV-positive women were not given information on birthing options.
Delivery
1 study
Efforts are needed to ensure that health care workers protect the confidentiality of HIV-positive women’s serostatus. A study found that health workers violated women’s confidentiality.
Delivery
1 study
Family-friendly interventions are needed for women and couples who use drugs so that women are not forced to choose between harm reduction programs and caring for their families.
Women Who Use Drugs and Female Partners of Men Who Use Drugs
1 study
Interventions are needed to support women living with HIV to reduce infant abandonment. Studies found that families forced women living with HIV to abandon their infants; some due to erroneous fears that the infant could transmit HIV.
Orphans and Vulnerable Children
1 study
Interventions are needed to inform women who use drugs of harm reduction early in pregnancy and to ensure systematic access to opioid agonist treatment during pregnancy and in hospitals for birth and postpartum. Some studies have shown increased risk adverse health impacts as well as of vertical transmission among women who use drugs which may be mitigated by harm reduction [See %{s:45}]
Women Who Use Drugs and Female Partners of Men Who Use Drugs
1 study
Adolescent girls who use drugs need risk reduction programs to meet their needs. A study found high rates of HIV risk behaviors among adolescent girls who use drugs, especially those who lived on the streets, as well as high rates of forced sex. Risk behaviors start at early ages (up to 30% reported being under age 15 when they first injected) (UNICEF, 2013; UNESCO, 2012c), yet younger girls who inject drugs are not being reached by existing harm reduction and HIV prevention services. Current guidelines also do not consider how best to reach adolescents (Krug et al., 2015). Age restrictions hinder adolescent access to services (Krug et al., 2015).
Women Who Use Drugs and Female Partners of Men Who Use Drugs
1 study
Interventions are needed to scale up and increase access to methadone and buprenorphine—effective agonist therapy for the treatment of drug dependence, as well as needle exchange/distribution programs. Studies found only tiny fractions of those who need maintenance medication had access. A study found that user fees for methadone maintenance programs presented a barrier to access to care. In places where no needle exchange programs are operating, high rates of borrowing of used syringes occur, placing IDUs at high risk of acquiring HIV.
Women Who Use Drugs and Female Partners of Men Who Use Drugs
1 study
Interventions are needed to foster the involvement of HIV-positive women and promote cooperation between people living with HIV and AIDS and health care facilities, government and other agencies creating HIV-related programs and policies. Studies found that little cooperation existed between HIV-positive women and health facilities but that efforts have been underway to educate parliamentarians concerning HIV-positive women’s issues.
Promoting Women’s Leadership
1 study
Additional efforts are needed to ensure confidentiality in testing. Studies found that women were tested without their consent and that providers did not protect women’s confidentiality.
Antenatal Care - Testing and Counseling
1 study
Efforts are needed to reform laws that criminalize drug use and/or drug possession for personal use and to eliminate compulsory drug detention and instead, provide people who use drugs with access to HIV and health services, including harm reduction, and voluntary, effective evidence-based drug dependency treatment. Detention centers are administered by police, military or other national government public security authorities and operate outside the formal criminal justice system with detainees held without trial or right of appeal; those detained are not allowed to leave voluntarily (Wolfe, 2012). Studies found that female IDU were not given reproductive health services, including PMTCT services in compulsory detention and/or prison settings. Detoxification programs were substandard and ineffective. Despite high rates of HIV, antiretroviral treatment is largely unavailable in compulsory drug detention centers. IDUs who have started antiretroviral treatment should be able to continue treatment in prison with access to medical supervision. [See also %{s:11}]
Advancing Human Rights and Access to Justice for Women and Girls
1 study
Efforts are needed to eliminate compulsory drug detention and instead, provide PWID with HIV prevention and testing services and effective drug dependency treatment by medical professionals. Detention centers are administered by police, military or other national government public security authorities and operate outside the form criminal justice system with detainees held without trial or right of appeal and those detained do not allow people to leave voluntarily (Wolfe, 2012). Studies found that women who use drugs were not given reproductive health services, including PMTCT services in compulsory detention and/or prison settings. Detoxification programs were substandard and ineffective. Despite high rates of HIV, antiretroviral treatment is largely unavailable in compulsory drug detention centers. One study found high rates of injecting drug use within prison and high rates of syringe sharing within prisons plus incarceration was not associated with reduction in drug use, with over a quarter of these female drug users. PWID in and out of prison who have started antiretroviral treatment should be able to continue treatment with access to medical supervision. Treatment in compulsory drug detention takes the form of sanction rather than therapy, with high relapse rates.
Women Who Use Drugs and Female Partners of Men Who Use Drugs
1 study
Programs must adhere to the longstanding international agreement to voluntarism, informed consent, and ensuring the right of individuals and couples to decide freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children. Studies found that women living with HIV had been sterilized against their will, were pressured by providers to terminate a pregnancy, or were stigmatized for becoming pregnant. Studies also found that provision of antiretroviral therapy was conditional on using certain types of contraception. Litigation is currently being undertaken. A study found that HIV-positive women who accessed contraceptive services were not informed of the benefits of PMTCT programs in reducing vertical transmission.
Meeting the Sexual and Reproductive Health Needs of Women Living With HIV
1 study
Enforcement of standard protocols is needed to reduce the risk of provider coercion in HIV testing, particularly in provider-initiated testing and counseling. Studies found that significant numbers of women reported that they could not refuse an HIV test or that HIV testing was mandatory.
HIV Testing and Counseling for Women
1 study
HIV prevention interventions are needed for methamphetamine, crack, midazolam and/or heroin. People who use various drugs are at high risk of acquiring HIV and amphetamine is often used to enhance and prolong sexual pleasure and to reduce sexual inhibitions. High rates of HIV were found in a group of female crack users and sex workers using amphetamines. There is no effective pharmacotherapy, such as methadone, for cocaine or methamphetamine.
Women Who Use Drugs and Female Partners of Men Who Use Drugs
1 study
Interventions are needed to provide women and their partners with a better understanding of the risk of acquiring HIV through sexual practices as well as through injecting drug use (IOM, 2007). Studies found low rates of condom use despite sexual relationships with IDUs, lack of knowledge by IDUs on sexual and reproductive health and lack of access to clean needles. A study also found that many MSM and male intravenous drug users avoid disclosure of their sexual and drug risk behavior along with their HIV status due to stigma and gender norms and that most wives reported violence and little or no condom use. HIV-positive male IDUs want help with disclosure to their wives. Most wives of IDUs reported only a single lifetime sexual partner and only a tiny proportion reported injecting drug use.
Women Who Use Drugs and Female Partners of Men Who Use Drugs
1 study
Women and men need accurate information on vertical transmission, treatment adherence strategies, the importance of their viral load and the low risk of vertical transmission if virally suppressed. Adherence has been challenging for women living with HIV postpartum, even for those initiating ART during pregnancy at CD4 counts under 350, with adequate adherence dropping from 75.7% during pregnancy to 53% postpartum globally (Nachega et al., 2012 cited in Coutsoudis et al., 2013). Knowledge of HIV and vertical transmission has shown to be correlated with increased initiation, adherence and retention for pregnant women living with HIV.
Antenatal Care - Treatment
1 study