In this video episode of Let Women Talk, HIV community advocate Sarah Feagan speaks with Mina John who is a staff consultant in a large HIV service provided by the Department of Immunology at Royal Perth Hospital where 32% of the program’s clients are women. She presented at the 2019 Australasian HIV&AIDS Conference held in Perth on 17-19 September about HIV infection in women.
About the presentation
One of the topics which Mina presented spoke of disproportionate HIV burden among young women globally. In Western Australia, although HIV notifications have fallen since 2016, there is a relative increase in new HIV diagnoses in females, with higher proportions in this number of women who were born overseas, or women acquiring HIV overseas. Also, why are females are more likely to acquire HIV with fewer sex partners versus males? Some of the factors are biological — meaning that there is a higher risk of HIV infection per sexual exposure for females compared to males. For example, due to the large cervical–vaginal mucosal surface area, semen can stay in the vagina for up to 3 days; and microabrasions can occur during coitus that allow an entry for the virus.
There are challenges and barriers for women and their retention in HIV care. In an Australian study of approximately 500 women who were surveyed across all states/territories, those barriers included transport, carer responsibilities, financial pressure, language, health beliefs and concern about stigma or disclosure.
Find out about Let Women Talk
Let Women Talk is a NAPWHA community-led health literacy initiative where HIV community advocates incorporate their rich perspectives and diverse lived HIV experiences back into strengthening community health responses — where women design and develop the health content and interventions that they want to see and hear. The initiative is one of many activities forming part of the HIV Health Literacy Framework Project, a NAPWHA project supported through the funding of ViiV Healthcare Australia.
Hear other video episodes
In this series, Sarah Feagan reports back from the 2019 Australasian HIV&AIDS Conference aiming to translate research back into community practice.
- Let Women Talk — Episode 01 — Sarah Feagan & Deborah Bateson
- Let Women Talk — Episode 03 — Sarah Feagan & Janet Gare
- Let Women Talk — Episode 04 — Sarah Feagan & Jenny Hoy
- Let Women Talk — Episode 05 — Sarah Feagan & Diane Lloyd
- Let Women Talk — Episode 07 — Sarah Feagan & Kirsty Machon
- Let Women Talk — Episode 08 — Sarah Feagan & Carole Khaw
- Let Women Talk — Episode 09 — Sarah Feagan & Rebecca Houghton
- Let Women Talk — Episode 10 — Sarah Feagan & Melinda Hassall
- Let Women Talk — Episode 11 — Sarah Feagan & Shoshana Rosenberg
- Let Women Talk — Episode 12 — Sarah Feagan & Liz Duck-Chong
- Let Women Talk — Episode 13 — Sarah Feagan & Moira Wilson
- Let Women Talk — Episode 14 — Sarah Feagan & Allie Carter
Who’s in this interview?
Mina John is a Clinical Immunologist and Immunopathologist. She is a staff consultant in a large HIV service provided by the Department of Immunology at Royal Perth Hospital and holds a research appointment with the Institute of Immunology and Infectious Diseases (IIID) at Murdoch University.
Sarah Feagan is a queer women who has been living with HIV since 2008. She is the previous chair of Positive Women Victoria and has recently joined the team at Living Positive Victoria as a Peer Navigator. She also the Vice President of NAPWHA. Sarah is a co-facilitator of Phoenix for Women and the Positive Leadership Development Institute (PLDi). Sarah has unique approach to her advocacy and is inspired by the lived experience of the body positive to inform her practice. Sarah’s advocacy spans from the grass roots all the way up to high level governance. She has a global outlook with a local focus to bringing the community along with her.
