Objective: to increase access to interventions for the prevention of sexually transmitted infections (STI) and HIV through integrated, gender-sensitive, sexual and reproductive health programmes
Specific prevention strategies are necessary to ensure that all groups have access to a comprehensive range of relevant prevention services.
It is only through such tailored programmes that we can expect to see people accessing appropriate prevention services.
It is now widely accepted that the ‘ABC - abstain, be faithful, use a condom’ prevention approach has a limited impact.
Prevention services and messages must be tailored to meet the differing realities of peoples’ daily lives, including social, economic and cultural factors.
IPPF recognizes the need for a holistic approach to prevention, addressing several of the determinants of high HIV prevalence rates. While there is currently no ‘magic prevention bullet’, in the absence of a vaccine and microbicide, condoms still play a pivotal role.
In 2007, IPPF distributed over 125 million condoms.
Many young women and girls, in particular, are unable to express themselves sexually and have little control over what happens to their bodies.
Consequently, to abstain, remain faithful or use a condom is often beyond their control.
In response to the need for a more extensive range of prevention interventions, the UNAIDS Global Coalition on Women and AIDS has partnered with IPPF, UNFPA and Young Positives to develop country level ‘report cards’ to explore some of the current prevention strategies in place around the world, and develop advocacy techniques for young women and girls to protect themselves from HIV infection.
As access to antiretroviral therapy increases, the prevention needs of positive people become central and critical factors for success.
We are committed to the universal provision of ‘positive prevention’: a set of actions that help people living with HIV to protect their sexual health, avoid other sexually transmitted infections, delay HIV and AIDS disease progression, and avoid passing HIV infection on to others.
The World Health Organization estimates that as few as 10 per cent of people living with HIV in low and middle income countries know their HIV status.
Making HIV testing and counselling more widely available is therefore essential to respond more effectively to HIV.
One of the key lessons IPPF has learned is that confidentiality and client-centred approaches should not be compromised during testing. There are many possibilities for integrating voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) services into the work of sexual and reproductive health providers.
Successful prevention is about making prevention work for everyone, regardless of who they are or their HIV status.
Prevention programmes must be flexible and can never follow a one-size-fits-all approach.