As part of the main drivers of the BAM Group of Companies, this being the umbrella company within which Informative Newspaper operates, alongside sister brands Finite Magazine, Finite Lifestyle Club, Bam Promotions and Twin Talk, Informative Newspaper takes particular interest in social issues and causes created to advance the development of young girls and women and their participation in the global space.
To advance and cement the organization’s support for women and young girls, the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights is today, through this issue introduced. Its purpose is to advance knowledge and create further awareness on developments surrounding the said community sector and to help audiences stay updated on such, further guiding means of both action and reaction to these developments.
This week we discuss what parliamentarians can do to combat stigma and discrimination in health settings
Undertake advocacy research: Parliamentarians can initiate research to assess that all NSPs include stigma reduction programmes; they can support community-led research on stigma and discrimination experienced by people living with HIV and key populations and in particular, they can support the use of the People Living with HIV Stigma Index; they can commission specific research on stigma and discrimination in health settings; and they can initiate research to assess whether there are specific laws and policies that prevent key populations from accessing health care.
Enact and strengthen protective laws: Parliamentarians can enact and draft laws protecting people living with HIV and key populations from discrimination, including in healthcare settings.
They can:
• Promote anti-discrimination laws that protect people living with HIV and key populations from discrimination;
• Promote laws that protect women and girls from discrimination and protect them from violence;
• Promote equal, non-discriminatory access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support and sexual and reproductive health care;
• Promote laws that decriminalise HIV transmission, sex work, drug use and same sex sexual conduct; • Promote health laws that: o Do not require spousal or parental consent to access information and services about HIV prevention, treatment, care and support; o Do not require spousal or parental consent to access sexual and reproductive health care and information; o Respect the right to medical confidentiality and privacy for people living with HIV and key populations; and
• Promote CSE for adolescents and young men and women, including information about the risk of cervical cancer
Ensure accountability for implementation of commitments: Parliamentarians can undertake legal audits to assess the extent to which laws and policies are consistent with their international and regional human rights commitments and are working to reduce stigma and discrimination. They can also call for accountability to and reporting on efforts to meet related international and regional human rights commitments. They can meet with the relevant parliamentary committees to share information and concerns about discriminatory laws and assess what changes are necessary to advance equality for key populations and protect them from violations of their human rights. They can meet with international and regional experts to discuss what law reform is necessary and advocate for legal and policy reform to ensure compliance. They can monitor and hold government ministries accountable for reporting on their progress towards amending discriminatory laws and enacting protective ones, and they can encourage civil society to monitor whether protective laws are being implemented. Where they find deficits, they can advocate for legal and policy reform to ensure compliance.
Budget monitoring: Parliamentarians can ensure that stigma reduction measures in NSPs are properly costed and that adequate budgetary provision is made for their implementation. They can encourage various ministries (e.g. health, education, justice) to budget for relevant programmes, including to train health care personnel (from doctors to nurses, health care assistants and attendants), especially those on the front lines, about dealing with key populations and people living with HIV.
Be an opinion leader and influencer: Parliamentarians can help raise awareness about stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV and key populations. Parliamentarians living with HIV or with family members living with HIV can speak out about their status and help to destigmatise HIV. They can become opinion leaders by publicly meeting with people living with HIV and key populations and speaking out about the need to protect their human rights, including their right to health. By speaking out, parliamentarians can help foster an enabling environment, including in health settings. They can attend events, deliver speeches and speak out to frame access to health care for people living with HIV as a human rights issue. They can also work within Parliament and in Parliamentary forums and networks, to raise awareness amongst fellow parliamentarians. They can share lessons learned at regional and global level with other parliamentarians, including from outreach to communities on HIV.
Engage with civil society: Parliamentarians can engage with CSOs, including networks of people living with HIV and key populations, primary health care workers, health care workers, university medical schools, private practitioners and other groups working on HIV and SRH. They can invite CSOs and the communities they work with, to provide expert information at parliamentary hearings on stigma and discrimination in health care settings and work with these groups to promote stigma reduction programming and they can empower people living with HIV and key populations to advocate for themselves by inviting them to participate in these meetings. Parliamentarians can play an important role in ensuring the voices of people living with HIV and key populations are included in discussions about their lives.
Represent their electorate: Parliamentarians should engage with and reflect the concerns of all their electorate. Parliamentarians can engage with key stakeholders within communities – women, key populations, people living with HIV, health care workers, parents, traditional leaders and religious leaders, to increase awareness about stigma and discrimination. In particular, parliamentarians can ensure that they include the voices of people living with HIV and key populations at the centre of these conversations.
Work with the media: Parliamentarians can work with the media to raise awareness and to encourage more reporting on access to healthcare for people living with HIV and key populations. They can encourage the media to write stories that frame access to health care as a human right and that document the barriers that people living with HIV and key populations experience when trying to access sexual and reproductive health care. They can also convey information about the challenges that health care workers face in providing sexual and reproductive health care to people living with HIV and key populations.
Next we discuss Prevention
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