Sub-Working Group on STIs/HIV
Improving the lives of those living with STIs/HIV/AIDS through strengthening prevention and care efforts in crisis-affected settings.
Overview
The STIs/HIV Sub-Working Group is a dedicated group of IAWG members working to facilitate global collaboration among the IAWG member agencies and with external stakeholders to improve the lives of those living with STIs/HIV/AIDS and to strengthen prevention and care efforts in crisis-affected settings.
Priority Objectives
- Sharing information among sub-working group members on STIs/HIV-related efforts, updates, new programs, promising practices, and innovations.
- Collaborating with Inter-Agency Task Team on HIV in Emergencies (IATT HIV-E) to coordinate IAWG’s sexual and reproductive health inputs into the task team’s implementing mechanisms.
- Ensuring STIs/HIV is integrated into IAWG meeting through presentations and materials.
- Reviewing and adapting advocacy messaging around Evidence for Contraceptive Options in HIV Outcomes (ECHO) trial results and sexual and reproductive health and STIs/HIV integration.
- Conduct a landscaping activity to better understand ongoing STIs/HIV programming in emergencies and identify potential gaps.
- Fundraising for additional priority activities.
Leadership
- Women's Refugee Commission
STIs / HIV Resources
Addressing the Rise of Syphilis and Congenital Syphilis: Evidence from Three Studies in North Santander and Policy Recommendations to Break the Cycle of Transmission
The spread of infectious diseases remains a global threat. When widely available treatments exist, the challenge becomes one of rapid policy intervention to treat and prevent further spread. This study addresses a highly treatable, sexually transmitted infection - syphilis - amid population displacements in the Venezuela-Colombia border region, most dramatically manifested in the rise of congenital syphilis among newborns. The findings show that, in addition to informational prevention campaigns and access to free treatment, small monetary incentives for individuals who struggle to meet basic necessities are an effective and low-cost strategy when compared to the costs of untreated syphilis, including perinatal morbidity and mortality secondary to gestational syphilis.
An Evaluation of Reproductive Health Service Provision in Masisi Health Zone, North Kivu Province, Democratic Republic of Congo
Complete assessment of availability, use, and quality of RH services (in-depth study) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), from October 9 - 26, 2013. The study was part of the IAWG 2012 – 2014 global review of RH in emergencies.
#MyHealthMyPriority
MyHealth MyPriority is a program out to sensitize communities on sexual health with a focus on HIV/AIDS the use of contraceptives and lubricants, encouraging people to feel comfortable talking about their sexual health. Communities in and around Buea, have relatively low knowledge on usage of female condoms. MyHealth MyPriority aims at enlightening the population on the use of female condoms. Though abstinence is the first advice given out to the population, the use of contraceptives for sexually active people is advised.
HIV Programming in Fragile and Humanitarian Settings
December 1, 2021, marks the second World AIDS Day since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. For populations affected by conflict and crises, COVID-19 has held specific consequences for service delivery and access to care, including for HIV prevention and response. Interruptions to HIV service delivery are often experienced during disruptions such as civil unrest, elections, flooding, cyclones, and disease outbreaks. These disruptions may further drive the HIV epidemic by fueling gender-based violence, child labor, and lack of access to HIV services. As we observe World AIDS Day this year, the STIs/HIV Sub-Working Group (SWG) wishes to emphasize the need for adaptive strategies during humanitarian crises, particularly during the continued COVID-19 pandemic, to ensure uninterrupted service delivery to those we serve.
Improving the Agency and Equity of Marginalized Communities in the COVID-19 Crisis
This advocacy brief is based on a study conducted in 2021 under the Approaches in Complex and Challenging Environments for Sustainable Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) (ACCESS) program. It explores the equity and agency of selected marginalized communities - including sex workers, transgender people, men who have sex with men, lesbian, bisexual, queer and intersex (LGBT+) people, people living with HIV, people living with a disability, and adolescent girls and young women - in Lebanon, Mozambique, and Uganda, with in relation to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic 2020-2021. The brief summarises key findings on the enablers and barriers to SRHR for each community in the three countries. It makes recommendations for humanitarian and development actors on how to better address these barriers, and steps for working across the humanitarian-development nexus with communities.
STIs/HIV/AIDS
Learn more about preventing the spread of STIs, HIV, and AIDS in humanitarian crises and emergencies.