Integrating Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS Programs. Strategic Opportunities for PEPFAR

Abstract

Twenty-five years into the AIDS epidemic and halfway through the initial five-year phase of the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR),1 there is increasing international consensus, including within the U.S. government, about the imperative to target women and girls. With women now constituting 60 percent of those living with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, and young women accounting for threequarters of 15- to 24-year olds living with the virus, this is an urgent agenda.2 PEPFAR is well positioned to build on this consensus and make integration of reproductive health (RH), family planning (FP), and HIV/AIDS services a major new priority.3 RH-HIV integration presents important opportunities for PEPFAR to expand its impact and to improve its prospects for achieving its prevention, care, and treatment goals. It is also a new way of thinking in larger terms about how to enhance the sustainability of PEPFAR and to overcome the barriers to broader access for HIV/AIDS services.