In 2022, a community-academic collaborative team published 5 key recommendations for developing a national action plan to advance the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) of women living with HIV in Canada. In 2023, a national gathering was convened to strategize implementation of the recommendations across policy, practice, and research settings. Discussions highlighted that meaningful engagement of women living with HIV (recommendation 1) is foundational to implementing the other recommendations. Meaningful engagement requires SRHR stakeholders to: actively dismantle power differentials; commit to engagement as an ongoing process; learn about regionally specific epidemiology and sociostructural forces that create and sustain vulnerability for HIV among women; invest in creating supportive infrastructure; and integrate Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion principles to call diverse groups into the conversation. This Canadian initiative demonstrates how global guidelines can be transformed into nationally tailored action plans to advance the SRHR of women living with HIV, grounded in meaningful engagement.
Keywords: Community Engagement; Country Profiles; HIV/AIDS; Healthcare Access and Disparities; National HIV strategies; Patient Empowerment; Patient-Centered Care; social determinants of health; women.
In 2022, a Canadian team of women living with HIV, researchers, community advocates, global program managers and policymakers, clinicians, and social service providers developed five key recommendations for a national action plan to advance the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women living with HIV. To ensure that this national action plan impacts practice, the team organized a community gathering to discuss implementation. Discussions highlighted that meaningful engagement of women living with HIV (recommendation 1) is foundational to implementing the other recommendations. Meaningful engagement is understood as involvement that goes beyond participation, where community members have real impact and decision-making power on the work. The attendees identified specific elements of meaningful engagement of women living with HIV for those working in sexual and reproductive health and rights: (1) Acknowledge and actively dismantle power differentials; (2) Commit to meaningful engagement as an on-going process; (3) Learn about how HIV impacts women in your region and what factors contribute to women being at risk of getting HIV; (4) Spend time and money to create supportive systems, clear policies, and leadership (5) Integrate Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion principles to ensure that diverse groups, voices, and priorities are called into the conversation This Canadian initiative is an example of how global guidelines can be transformed into nationallytailored action plans to advance the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women living with HIV, grounded in meaningful engagement.