The Women's Research Initiative on HIV/AIDS (WRI), a program of The Well Project, convened Fall WRI Virtual 2021: Research at the Intersection of HIV and Women's Sexual and Reproductive Health: Best Practices, Gaps, and Barriers on October 7-8, 2021. The meeting sought to comprehensively examine the intersection of HIV and women's sexual and reproductive health, a relatively underexplored area of HIV research. (Click here or below to view the Issue Brief.)
Highlights from the meeting include:
- Research and policy around this topic must be grounded in its historical context, including the ways in which women have been marginalized and Black people (Black women in particular) and other people of color have been abused by the medical establishment.
- Despite playing a fundamental role in women's health and well-being, sexual and reproductive health remains disconnected from HIV prevention, care, research, and policy, which has contributed to failures in reaching and serving women.
- Appropriate, relevant, and holistic sexual and reproductive health care for women living with and vulnerable to HIV must acknowledge and address women's lives in all of their complexities (including race, socioeconomics, gender identity, motherhood/care provision, geography, etc.).
- To optimize reproductive and sexual health among women living with HIV, HIV treatment success must no longer be measured exclusively by viral suppression. Rather, metrics of treatment success, including those driving federal strategies, must center the well-being of women living with HIV, including their sexual health and pleasure
- HIV prevention efforts require an urgent reframing of the language of "risk" around vulnerability to HIV and shifting to a framework that prioritizes resilience and strength in order to be successful among women.
While the meeting elicited a number of important recommendations, on an overarching level, the group again asserted the need to consider any recommendations around the health of women living with and vulnerable within the full context of their lives. This is particularly true in developing holistic sexual and reproductive health care for women living with and vulnerable to HIV.
View the Fall WRI Virtual 2021 Issue Brief: Interrogating the Intersection of HIV and Women's Sexual and Reproductive Health
Fall WRI Virtual 2021 Meeting Participants
| Adaora Adimora, MD, MPH* University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Medicine |
Judith D. Auerbach, PhD* University of California San Francisco (UCSF) |
| Dawn Averitt* The Well Project |
Gina Brown, RSW Southern AIDS Coalition |
| Gina Brown, MD Gilead Sciences |
Danielle Campbell Community |
| Abby Ria Charles, MPH Institute for Public Health Innovation |
Vignetta Charles, PhD ETR |
| Cecilia Chung Transgender Law Center |
Jenna Conley* The Well Project |
| Elizabeth Connick, MD University of Arizona |
Porchia Dees, BS The Well Project |
| Antigone Dempsey, MEd HRSA HIV/AIDS Bureau |
Dazon Dixon Diallo, DHL, MPH SisterLove |
| Karine Dube, DrPh UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health |
Olivia Ford The Well Project |
| Neha Gahlawat, PharmD, MBA, RPh Janssen |
Sarit Golub, PhD, MPH Hunter College |
| Maureen Goodenow, PhD Office of AIDS Research |
Rowena Johnston, PhD amfAR |
| Jennifer Kates, PhD* Kaiser Family Foundation |
Naina Khanna Positive Women/s Network |
| Aryah Lester Transgender Strategy Center |
Carmen Logie, PhD University of Toronto |
| Edward Machtinger, MD UCSF Women's HIV Program |
Krista Martel* The Well Project |
| Tonia Poteat, PhD, MPH, PA-C UNC |
Bre Rivera Black Trans Fund |
| Linda Scruggs, MHS* Ribbon |
Vani Vannappagari, MBBS, MPH, PhD ViiV Healthcare |
| Fulvia Veronese, PhD* National Institutes of Health |
Celeste Watkins-Hayes, PhD University of Michigan |
| Andrea Weddle, MSW HIV Medicine Association |
Charles Wira, PhD Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth |
*Fall 2021 Advisory Board Member
The Fall WRI Virtual 2021 convening received sponsorship support or grants from Gilead, Janssen, Merck, and ViiV Healthcare.
