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Women with HIV Living in the MENA Region

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Handbook of Healthcare in the Arab World

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Abstract

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is currently witnessing feminization of the HIV epidemic. This chapter focuses on vulnerability and health needs of women in the region to infection with HIV. A limited number of studies indicate that knowledge levels among women and men about HIV prevention are alarmingly low, with the prevalent harmful gender norms and other contextual factors having a disproportionately larger toll on women. Women in the MENA region tend not to use HIV prevention and testing services. The situation is further complicated by the failure to protect the human rights of HIV positive women in health care settings and to ensure their access to holistic and dignified care. The majority of service providers link HIV infection with illicit behaviors and promiscuity, and thus women are denied care and humiliated once their status is known. Changing contextual factors takes time but HIV spreads rapidly. Accordingly, it is essential to work within existing cultural contexts to stop the spread of the HIV epidemic in the region. Combating stigma and discrimination, empowering women and escalating harm reduction strategies that include sexual partners of key populations are recommended to reduce the vulnerability of women to infection with HIV. In addition, integration of HIV services in reproductive health services, and gender-based violence programs, are needed to address challenges faced by HIV positive women especially in marginalized and vulnerable groups in the MENA region.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Self-employed consultant, Cairo, Egypt

    Doaa Oraby

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  1. Doaa Oraby
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Correspondence to Doaa Oraby .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Pharmacology Therapeutics, University of British Colombia Dept. Pharmacology Therapeutics, VANCOUVER, BC, Canada

    Ismail Laher

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Environmental & Occupational Medicine, National Research Centre, Cairo, Egypt

    Amal Saad-Hussein

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Oraby, D. (2020). Women with HIV Living in the MENA Region. In: Laher, I. (eds) Handbook of Healthcare in the Arab World. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74365-3_196-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74365-3_196-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-74365-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-74365-3

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