Annual Report 2016-2017 > HIV & STIs

HIV and sexually transmitted infections

Couple at a FACES clinic in western Kenya.
  • We found that women were more likely than men to have negative experiences of disclosing HIV status to partners in Kenya and Uganda, showing the need for gender-sensitive HIV services.
  • We showed that bacterial vaginosis (BV) increases the risk of other STIs by making cells in the vagina less capable of healing from wounds. But we also found that daily oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) drugs were just as effective at preventing HIV for women with BV as without.
  • Our livelihood program in Kenya, Shamba Maisha, has empowered HIV-positive people to become part of the farming economy and improved their self-esteem and hope.

Our one-stop shop in Kenya integrated HIV and family planning care, and we found that women living with HIV who received this care had a 30 percent lower pregnancy rate compared with those who did not.
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HIV & STIs