Da Paz E; International Conference on AIDS.
Int Conf AIDS. 1998; 12: 439 (abstract no. 23489).
Sida Info Service, Paris, France.
The history and the representations of the AIDS epidemic in the Occident have had serious consequences for women. Women have shared their needs and anxieties in their testimonies to Sida Info Service and we have found that our response to their concerns has sometimes been lacking or completely inadequate. Sida Info Service, with the support of the European Community, has been engaged in a European-level analysis of women's specific needs and how they are met. The goal has been to confront our findings for France with those of other European helplines, by means of the calls received from women, but beyond that, by giving voice to concerned professionals who follow their care and provide support. Our conclusions and proposed responses, shared by professionals, activists and HIV positive women themselves, are as follows: End women's isolation, Fight against the discrimination that victimizes women, Reduce inequalities in the relationships between the sexes, Improve access to treatment and medical-social-psychological follow-up, Provide women with means to protect themselves that are under their control, Encourage scientific research that seeks to expand knowledge pertaining to women's needs and particularities in the struggle against HIV infection, promote the health of women throughout the globe, improve access to information destined to women, along with its quality, sensitize the larger public to the reality of the epidemic among heterosexuals CONCLUSIONS: Sida Info Service would like to improve the quality of the helpline response to women by being more attentive to the needs and expections expressed by the women who call the service. We would like to evaluate the need for a service specifically targeted to women confronted with HIV infection, in a concerted effort with the other European helplines. Our hope is that this analysis will enable us, on the one hand, 1) to fight more effectively, with more precise information, against the discrimination often faced by women with HIV; 2) to create a resource and service directory listing all the treatment and care structures pertinent to women confronted with HIV infection; 3) to propose themes for appropriate informational materials directed specifically to women. On a broader basis, we hope to 1) sensitize and serve as a catalyst encouraging different actors in the service and activist domains to create new networks of services for women confronted with and/or infected with HIV and would 2) establish a working committee at the European level to contemplate this problematic.
Publication Types:
Keywords:
- Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
- European Union
- Female
- France
- HIV Infections
- HIV Seropositivity
- Health
- Health Services Accessibility
- Health Services Needs and Demand
- Humans
- Social Support
- Socioeconomic Factors
- organization & administration
Other ID:
UI: 102229117
From Meeting Abstracts