Retrieved from Allafrica News
 http://allafrica.com/stories/200204110627.html

EngenderHealth (New York)

PRESS RELEASE
April 11, 2002 
Posted to the web April 11, 2002 

EngenderHealth Releases Innovative Internet and CD-ROM based Minicourses on HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections for Sexual and Reproductive Health Providers

EngenderHealth, a nonprofit agency working to improve women's health worldwide, today released two online minicourses to support the international network of family planning and sexual and reproductive health providers in their efforts to prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The two new courses, entitled Sexually Transmitted Infections and HIV and AIDS, are part of EngenderHealth's Web-based series Topics in Reproductive Health (the first course in the series, Sexuality and Sexual Health, was released last fall).

They will provide health care providers, especially those in resource-poor settings, with knowledge and strategies for addressing HIV/AIDS and STI prevention, management, and counseling with their clients. Developed by EngenderHealth through a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the courses are now available at www.engenderhealth.org/minicourses/ or on CD-ROM.

"We're excited to be providing this powerful new training tool in the fight against AIDS and sexually transmitted infections," stated EngenderHealth's President, Dr. Amy E. Pollack. "With skyrocketing rates of infection, especially among women in less developed countries, using the Internet lets us reach thousands of health care workers with these innovative courses and provide them with the information and tools they need to talk openly with clients about their sexual activity and disease prevention and treatment."

Most reproductive health programs do not address HIV/STI issues, or else address them in a superficial and ineffective manner. EngenderHealth's minicourses were created to change this unfortunate reality. Every year, approximately 400 million adults worldwide become infected with an STI.

Throughout the world, rates of HIV infection among women are increasing rapidly, even surpassing rates among men in many countries. Many family planning clients, the majority of whom are women, are highly vulnerable to HIV and STIs, yet they may not perceive their risks or have the knowledge or skills to prevent infection. This is where family planning and reproductive health programs can play a vital role. Millions of women access such programs each year, and these visits are often their only interaction with the health care system. Therefore, a visit to a family planning clinic offers a crucial moment of opportunity to discuss HIV/STI risks and prevention and to diagnose and treat infections. EngenderHealth's minicourses help providers seize this opportunity by helping them integrate these lifesaving skills into their programs.

The courses are self-instructional and Web- or CD-ROM-based to make training available to health care providers in developing countries, who have access to computers and the Internet in increasing numbers. The courses are illustrated with case studies that reflect the realities of developing country audiences. Educational materials are optimized for downloading and printing so they can be shared with clients, staff, or colleagues. While the courses cannot wholly substitute for interpersonal, participatory training, they offer an inexpensive and accessible alternative, and fill a gap created by lack of access to training in developing countries. In addition, the minicourses can be used as background information or reference material when participatory interpersonal training is available.

Targeted to a wide audience of individuals working in reproductive health and HIV/AIDS programs, EngenderHealth's minicourses encompass a holistic approach that incorporates all facets of sexual and reproductive health.

This involves a shift in the thinking that views family planning services as more than mere service provision. The new approach is quality- and client-oriented, ensuring that services are youth-friendly, male-friendly, and gender-sensitive, and uphold human rights, women's rights, and reproductive rights. This sexual and reproductive health approach involves assessing the interrelationship between clients' needs, as well as promoting awareness among clients of their bodies, reproductive cycles, and sexuality. Providers can become better equipped to talk with clients about sexuality, recognized as an essential element of any provider-client discussion about HIV/AIDS. By overcoming the stigma that often inhibits such discussion, providers can better address risk factors and strategies for prevention and ensure the reproductive health of clients.

"These courses are a step forward toward our goal of integrating family planning services into broader sexual and reproductive health care to improve the health of women," explains Dr. Pollack. "By training providers in this way, we are helping the women whose family planning visits are their only contact with the health care system, and their only opportunity to receive information about the prevention of and the potential impact of HIV and other STIs on their sexual and reproductive health."

Founded in 1943, EngenderHealth is a nonprofit organization that has been working internationally for more than 30 years to support and strengthen reproductive health services for women and men worldwide. Since its inception, its work has improved the health and lives of more than 100 million individuals in 90 countries.