Around 70 persons participated in the advocacy meeting for women living with HIV/AIDS, and transgenders, organised by Palmyrah Workers Development Society (PWDS) in association with Tamil Nadu Positive Women Network, Aroghyagam, NMCT, Amuthasurabhi and Coimbatore Vidiyal Positive Women Network.
The programme was part of the ‘Koshish’ project focussing on sexual and reproductive rights of women living with HIV/AIDS (WLHIVs) and transgenders in five districts. The project was run at the district level with the support of various agencies including Tamil Nadu Positive Women Network.
The advocacy activities were initiated to address the issues faced by WLHIVs, in sex reassignment surgery for transgenders, accessibility of medical services, papanicolaou test (Pap smear test) for women over 35 years in regular intervals of 6 months for early detection of cervical cancer and inclusion of the test for WLHIVs while initiating anti-retroviral treatment, according to a release.
