Integrating FP into HIV prevention, care and treatment services in Uganda

As more and more HIV-positive men and women gain access to antiretroviral treatment (ART), increasing numbers are living longer and healthier lives. In common with their HIV-negative peers, HIV-positive men and women face the same choices regarding the number, the timing and the spacing of their children and have the same needs for comprehensive, safe, quality FP/RH services. Until now, however, the FP/RH needs of HIV positive people have largely been overlooked. Health workers generally lack the knowledge and skills needed to support HIV-positive women and men to make free, informed choices regarding their reproductive and contraceptive options. They are even less equipped to address the additional issues that women who are taking antiretroviral drugs must consider. The ACQUIRE Project with funding from USAID is working in Uganda and Ghana on a pilot basis to integrate FP into ART services. Lessons learned from the pilot will be replicated more widely. In Uganda, ACQUIRE is collaborating with The AIDS Support Organization (TASO), a local NGO providing HIV/AIDS care and treatment including ART. The goal of the pilot is to offer FP services as an integral component of HIV prevention, care and treatment services for HIV positive women and their partners particularly to those receiving ART services.