State of World Population 2012 - Country Page List - UNFPA

messages were delivered via a number of routes)
turned out to be more effective than a broader
approach to gender inequality. Men’s involvement
in discussions was key, as was the endorsement of
influential members of the community.
If more traditional, dominant male gender
attitudes are related to poorer health outcomes,
it is logical that more gender equitable attitudes
can lead to improvements in sexual and reproductive
health-related attitudes and practices
(Pulerwitz and Barker 2006; Barker, Ricardo and
Nascimento, 2007). The International Men and
Gender Equality Survey, for example, has shown
more healthful practices to be associated with
higher scores on the “gender equitable man” or
GEM Scale for measuring attitudes towards gender
equality (International Center for Research on
Women and Promundo, 2010).
What these data tell us is that men with more
respectful attitudes are likely to have better
individual and couple outcomes as reflected in
improved couple communication, more sexual
satisfaction, greater chances of accompanying their
female partners to antenatal visits, and greater
likelihood of having sought an HIV test.
In the past 15 years, non-governmental
organizations, United Nations agencies and
governments have invested in programmes that
bring together efforts to change gender norms
with health interventions. Recent research has
shown that efforts to strengthen more gender
equitable attitudes among men can influence sexual
and reproductive health-related attitudes and
practices (Pulerwitz and Barker, 2006; Barker,
Ricardo and Nascimento, 2007). Recent global
reviews of sexual and reproductive health programmes
have found that those that integrated
gender considerations achieved better outcomes
(Rottach, Schuler and Hardee, 2011; Barker,
Ricardo and Nascimento, 2007).
Prevention of mother-to-child
transmission of HIV/AIDS
Olivia Adelaide,
lab technician at
Mozambique's Boane
Health Center, which
offers primary care and
sexual and reproductive
health services, including
family planning and
HIV testing.
©UNFPA/Pedro Sá da
Bandeira
HIV status does not necessarily repress the desire to have children,
and HIV-positive women may decide to have children in spite of their
HIV status, or they may decide not to have children (Rutenberg et al.,
2006). Women living with HIV are unable to exercise their right to
decide the number, timing and spacing of their children when discriminatory
practices deprive these women of the necessary means and
services to fulfil their decisions, such as accessing contraception, family
planning, maternal health care, and drugs and services to prevent
mother-to-child transmission.
The right to health and the right to sexual and reproductive health entitle
women living with HIV to the treatment, care and services necessary
for them to prevent mother-to-child transmission when they are pregnant.
The risk of perinatal transmission of HIV is below 2 per cent when
coupled with antiretroviral treatments, safe delivery and safe infant
feeding. Absent these critical services, the risk ranges from 20 per cent
to 45 per cent (World Health Organization, 2004a).
In low- and middle-income countries, an estimated 45 per cent
of HIV-positive pregnant women receive at least some antiretroviral
drugs to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV (World Health
Organization, UNAIDS and UNICEF, 2010).
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