Latest Updates

  • Living Positively: The Importance of Pediatric HIV Disclosure

    Submitted by Kate Plourde on May 15, 2013

    Bisola Ojikutu, of John Snow, Inc., is the senior treatment officer on AIDSTAR-One. AIDSTAR-One is funded by USAID’s Office of HIV/AIDS. The project provides technical assistance to USAID and U.S. Government country teams to build effective, well-managed, and sustainable HIV and AIDS programs.

    Booklet 3

     “Booklet 3: Living a Life of Health” of AIDSTAR-One’s disclosure materials geared toward children over the age of 9.

     
    As a public health practitioner and as a physician, I have seen the challenges that pediatric HIV brings to communities and to families. But I have also seen first-hand the positive, transformative effect that disclosing an HIV status can have. One case from my medical practice stands out as an example.

    A grandmother brought in her seven-year-old grandchild, who had been orphaned by AIDS, for emergency care. At the clinic, we discovered that the child was HIV-positive, and we provided the grandmother with medication and dosing instructions. Not long after, the grandmother and her grandchild returned to the clinic. Because she did not know she was HIV-positive, the child was beginning to rebel against taking her medication and was getting very sick again. After careful consideration, it became clear to me, as her physician, and to her grandmother, that it was time to disclose her HIV status to her to help this child become adherent to her medications. Through a collaborative process, the child’s grandmother and I were able to help her understand that she had an illness and that it was very important to take medication so that she would continue to feel good. It was through this process of disclosure that the child was able to begin living positively.    
     

  • Maximizing the Impact on Girl’s Lives: Post-2015 MDG Consultation

    Submitted by Kate Plourde on May 9, 2013

    Su Balasubramanian is the program officer for adolescent girls at the United Nations Foundation, where she leads the strategy and the portfolio of investments aimed at improving the lives of adolescent girls around the world.

    GuatemalaInspired. That’s how I felt after returning from Guatemala last week, where I was visiting our joint UN program for adolescent girls and participated in a Post-2015 MDG consultation run by adolescents, who shared their hopes and dreams for themselves and their country.

    As we look forward to the post-2015 development agenda, my visit reminded me that we have made great progress in addressing the needs of the most vulnerable populations in the 13 years since the Millennium Development Goals were created.  

    At the UN Foundation, it all started when we found that adolescent girls were amongst these most vulnerable populations, particularly the 10- to 14-year-olds.  We also found that when these girls are armed with an education, resources to stay healthy, the knowledge to stay safe, and a platform to amplify their voices, they can be drivers of poverty alleviation around the world.

  • Girl Rising: A Extraordinary Film about the Power of Educating Girls

    Submitted by IYWG on March 18, 2013

    Moira McCann Moderelli is a writer for 10×10, a global action campaign for girls’ education, with the new feature film, “Girl Rising,” at its core. “Girl Rising” was produced by the award-winning team of former ABC news journalists at The Documentary Group in association with Vulcan Productions, strategic partner Intel Corporation, and distribution partner CNN Films.

    How do you end global poverty? As questions go, that’s a pretty big one. The kind that’s too big to tackle in an easily accessible way. The kind that can make you turn away, frustrated and powerless. But the filmmakers behind the new feature film, Girl Rising,didn’t turn away. They were committed to finding an answer – propelled by the most basic tenet of journalism: follow the truth wherever it leads.

    So they asked that question. Again and again. They asked policy leaders, economists, experts in agriculture and health and so on. And the same answer kept coming back.

    How do you end global poverty? Educate girls.

    Simply put: educating girls is the highest return on investment you can make to break cycles of poverty. Research shows that an educated girl will marry later, have fewer children, and educate the children she does have – sons and daughters equally. She is more likely to avoid contracting HIV/AIDS, and less likely to be a victim of domestic violence. She’ll earn more money, and is more likely to become a community leader.

    But the other overarching truth that the filmmakers encountered at every turn was this: girls around the world face barriers to their education that boys do not – and the upshot is, they are being left behind by the millions. Gender violence, discrimination, bonded servitude, school fees (parents who are forced by economic necessity to choose almost always educate sons over daughters)… and the situation that three of the girls in the film faced: early or forced marriage. Marrying very young typically ends a girl’s education. Having children while still a child herself is often accompanied by physical, emotional and economic hardship.

  • An Adolescent Girl’s Voice Commands Attention at the 57th Commission for the Status of Women

    Submitted by IYWG on March 15, 2013