Linking Reproductive Health & HIV

In many cases throughout the world, reproductive health services, including family planning and abortion, are offered separately from voluntary counseling and testing and HIV prevention and treatment services. Women who want to prevent pregnancy, are planning pregnancies, or are currently pregnant may also want to protect themselves from HIV and other STIs, or may need care and support to manage HIV infection and disease. Fortunately, services that integrate family planning and HIV treatment and care are becoming increasingly available.  Moreover, recent research by Ibis and others has shown that integrating family planning into HIV care can increase use of effective contraception and is cost effective.

Ibis aims to broaden integration by linking HIV services with the fuller range of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services, including abortion, gender-based violence, and adolescent services, in order to meet both positive and negative women’s comprehensive SRH needs. We seek to make abortion an integral part of the HIV/reproductive health agenda and ensure that services and policies address women’s comprehensive health needs, in particular by increasing access to long-acting reversible contraception for HIV-positive women.