HIV/AIDS services must be integrated with sexual and reproductive health services if the goal of reducing HIV transmission is to succeed, according to a special issue of the international public health journal, the Bulletin of the World Health Organization. Published today, this issue highlights the theme of “Strengthening the linkages between sexual and reproductive health and HIV”.
“While the response to HIV has resulted in major achievements such as 4 million people on antiretroviral treatment, we need to step up prevention efforts as well as provide sexual and reproductive health services that meet the needs of people living with HIV,” says Dr Manjula Lusti-Narasimhan, from the Department of Reproductive Health and Research at the World Health Organization.
HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) must be tackled at the same time because each one encourages the spread of the other, says Xiang-Sheng Chen, deputy director of the National Center for Sexually Transmitted Diseases Control in China. “An HIV-positive person with an ulcerative STI such as genital herpes can transmit HIV more easily, while it is more difficult to treat STIs in people infected with HIV.”
The Bulletin of the World Health Organization is one of the world’s leading public health journals. It is the flagship periodical of the World Health Organization (WHO), with a special focus on developing countries. Articles are peer-reviewed and are independent of WHO guidelines.