Is free treatment enough? Ensuring women have equal access to HIV treatment

Analysis of the gender dimension in the scale-up of antiretroviral therapy and the extent to which free treatment at point of delivery ensures equitable access for women

Published by: Gender and Health Group, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine / Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) , 2005
Via: Eldis

This report from the Gender and Health Group at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine examines how gender inequality affects access to anti-retroviral therapy (ART) by women in poor countries. The report explains how access to freely available ART benefits women and outlines a number of policy measures necessary to ensure gender equality when access to free ART is being scaled up. Up to three times as many women than men are living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa. However, gender subordination, discrimination, stigma and poverty mean that women are less likely to access treatment. The report highlights how making ART freely available improves women?s access to it. But, as there are a number of factors other than cost that also prevent women benefiting from treatment, it is necessary to devise a package of free access that will help ensure gender equity in access to the services. The report makes a series of recommendations on how to introduce gender equity into the World Health Organisation (WHO) minimum requirements for ART provision. The report also makes recommendations to ensure gender equity in a further series of areas. These include removing the geographical barriers to access, health promotion and behavioural change interventions, community involvement in developing interventions and the provision of nutritional supplements or economic supports with ART.