Caring for women with HIV/AIDS

Increase the availability of support services for HIV-positive women who want help with reproductive decision-making and for women with children who need help with planning for their care:

· ensure that women have access to voluntary, safe and affordable contraceptive measures;

· support programmes to assist women with HIV/AIDS in family planning decisions and planning for their surviving families;

· ensure that HIV-positive women are not pressured or forced to be sterilized, and that pregnant women with HIV infection are not pressured or forced to terminate pregnancies.

Ensure that women do not carry the entire burden of care for people with HIV/AIDS:

· encourage men and women to share in the caregiving role, and support interventions that provide training for women and men in basic health care procedures;

· support community-based institutions that can provide professional alternatives to home care and respite care for primary caregivers;

· encourage families to keep their daughters in school, and discourage them from relying on adolescent girls for caregiving responsibilities;

· support programmes and interventions to assist women and men who provide foster care to children orphaned as a result of HIV/AIDS and other diseases.