Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS

HIV/AIDS and health risks associated with pregnancy and childbirth are major threats to women’s lives in developing countries. Every minute, a woman somewhere dies in pregnancy and childbirth. Every day, HIV/AIDS kills 8,500 people. Most of these deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa or in Asia.

CEDPA is committed to ensuring greater access to proven health information and services that save lives and build healthier families.

To that end, we work with local institutions to mobilize community support for safe motherhood and advocate for lifesaving reproductive health care. Our HIV/AIDS projects include partnerships with local leaders and faith-based organizations to promote HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment.

Our Success

CEDPA established its track record in the reproductive health field when we pioneered innovative approaches to community-based services over 30 years ago.

We have expanded community-level access to family planning information to ensure informed reproductive health decision making by women and their families. Our community mobilization strategies have empowered organizations to advocate changes that would better respond to their needs. Our programs have reached out to isolated, marginalized communities and have addressed the special health and social needs of women, men and youth.

CEDPA raises awareness about maternal health risks and mobilizes action to make pregnancy and childbirth safe for all women. In India, we are the convener of the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood India, providing technical assistance and leading advocacy and communications strategies.

Our global AIDS programs mobilize communities to slow the spread of HIV/AIDS and promote equal care and treatment for women and their families.

In Nigeria, where faith communities are critical to the delivery of health services, we partner with local faith-based organizations and religious leaders to promote HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment, and reduce stigma against people living with AIDS. And, because of Nigeria’s broken health infrastructure, we are strengthening the ability of families to provide home-based care for people living with HIV and AIDS.

In India’s Jharkhand State, CEDPA works with the government to add comprehensive life-skills curriculum into the existing AIDS education program for schoolchildren by providing technical assistance and training for master trainers and school teachers. Elsewhere, we have implemented successful strategies that protect orphans and vulnerable children, and elevated the importance of HIV/AIDS as a part of safe motherhood campaigns.

Moving Forward

To address the disproportionate burden of ill health on women, we will continue to develop new and creative approaches that make quality reproductive health services more accessible to women. We also will continue to strengthen community-level support for gender-sensitive HIV/AIDS services, to alleviate the care-giving burden on women, and to involve men as active partners.