People with HIV have sexual rights

The year 2009 marks 15 years of the International Conference on Population and Development which was held in Cairo in 1994.

 In this event, 179 countries including Swaziland agreed that population and development are inextricably linked and that the empowerment of women and meeting people’s needs of education, health, including Sexual and Reproductive Health are necessary for both individual advancement and balanced development.  A number of commemorative activities have been scheduled through, out the year to look at achievements, challenges and possible solutions as we move towards the last five years of the ICPD.

In Swaziland, the Family Life Association of Swaziland (FLAS) in collaboration with the Government of Swaziland, Ministry of Economic Planning and Development, National Population Unit with funding support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) have implemented a number of activities which are in line with the goals of the ICPD. 

The focus of the activities has been on Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) and in particular the issues of death of pregnant mothers due to pregnancy related complication, commonly referred to as Maternal Mortality, Gender based violence and Women’s Rights, Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights of People Living with HIV, Rights of People with Disabilities.

Let’s Talk about Sex and Sexual and Reproductive Health has been following all these commemorative activities and thus felt it would be important to bring these issues to the attention of the page readers. Below are some of the issues as presented during the Swaziland’s commemorative activities.