SHE Day: The Strong, HIV Positive, Empowered Women (SHE) Faculty and Bristol-Myers Squibb Celebrated Four Years of SHE, a First-of-Its Kind Programme Addressing the Specific Challenges Faced by Women

Paris (ots/PRNewswire) -

- The SHE network continues to expand across Europe to empower and educate
women living with HIV and their health care providers
- More than 60 SHE units, multidisciplinary teams based in HIV clinics and
dedicated to women with HIV, have been implemented in 18 countries

'SHE' (Strong, HIV positive, Empowered Women) experts and
Bristol-Myers Squibb hosted on Friday, 27 June a 'SHE Day' in Paris,
a yearly meeting that brings together a diverse group of experts
including women living with HIV and physicians to discuss how the
situation for women can be improved in Europe. SHE is the first
integrated peer support and medical education programme aimed at
addressing the unmet needs of women living with HIV and the health
care providers involved in their care, in Europe.

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celebration

Research shows that women represent one third of new diagnoses of
HIV in Europe.[i] Even though prognoses have improved, HIV remains
complex, providing unique challenges for women living with HIV and
their health care providers.[i] SHE aims to address those challenges
by offering educational and scientific tools for use in the clinical
and community settings.

"Four years ago, women living with HIV and physicians came
together to discuss how we can improve the lives of women living with
HIV across Europe," said Annette Piecha, SHE community co-chair and
member of Kompetenznetz HIV/AIDS e.V., Germany. "The result was the
SHE programme. No woman should ever feel alone or isolated -
resources such as SHE are needed to empower and unite all of us.
During SHE Day, we exchanged our experiences and discussed what else
should be done for women living with HIV."

SHE: A Growing Network

Since its launch, the SHE programme has been rolled out in 18
European countries* with involvement of more than 200 HIV physicians
and key patient community groups. Over the past year, the SHE faculty
and Bristol-Myers Squibb organised more than 50 peer support
workshops to empower and inform women. Additionally, there have been
20 medical education meetings, where physicians were able to present
best practices for the clinical care of women.

SHE seeks to promote the best scientific practices and provide
women with an optimal and easily accessible health care
infrastructure. To date, more than 60 SHE units have been established
in HIV clinics and the community settings.

"Each country has an opportunity to adapt the programme content
and format based on their local needs," said Celia Miralles, SHE
community co-chair, Internal Medicine Department, Hospital Xeral,
Vigo, Spain. "For example, in Poland, an anonymous SHE helpline was
launched. At the Brussels SHE unit, there is a monthly SHE corner,
where women waiting for their follow up appointments are provided
with support and information. In Spain, I had the opportunity to
implement a SHE unit in my hospital and also collaborate with SEISIDA
to issue an evaluation report on the programme."

SHE Resources Tailored to Women's Needs

The SHE units are supported by a vast array of resources,
including peer support and medical toolkits.

"The scientific work was an important part of SHE day, and the
faculty remains dedicated to exploring the current landscape for
women, identifying areas where additional knowledge is needed and
preparing educational materials for HIV health care providers," said
Professor Margaret Johnson, SHE scientific co-chair, HIV Clinic,
Royal Free Hospital, London, U.K.

*Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Finland, France,
Ireland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain,
Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom

The faculty also discussed community materials, with a special
focus on the peer support toolkit, which is available and adapted for
local country use. The new UK section dedicated to women and
migration was presented at the meeting. The UK faculty found that
there are higher rates of HIV infection among migrants, compared to
national populations[ii] with women being at greater risk than men
due to biological, social and cultural factors.[ii],[iii]

About the SHE Programme

SHE (Strong, HIV positive, Empowered women) aims to improve the
care and quality of life of women living with HIV through empowerment
and education. In addition to supplying new scientific and
educational tools to women living with HIV, SHE encourages building a
dialogue with physicians and sharing experiences with other women
living with HIV. Steered independently by a faculty involving women
personally living with HIV, health care providers, advocacy group
members, and policymakers from ten European countries, SHE is funded
and organised by Bristol-Myers Squibb.

For more information about the SHE programme, visit
http://www.SHEtoSHE.org.

Bristol-Myers Squibb's Commitment to Virology

For over 20 years, Bristol-Myers Squibb has worked collaboratively
with the virology community to help meet the needs of patients living
with HIV, HBV and HCV.

Bristol-Myers Squibb supports a number of scientific and
educational programmes within the virology community around the world
that encompass disease education, disease awareness and sharing of
best practices. In addition to SHE, these include PATH B(R) (Patients
and professionals acting together for hepatitis B), a joint
initiative between hepatitis patient groups and hepatologists to
provide comprehensive information and support for patients with
chronic hepatitis B and Partnering for Cure, a pan-European
scientific initiative supporting breakthrough research and
facilitating greater collaboration and knowledge-sharing with the
virology community.

Additionally, Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation's philanthropic and
educational programmes, such as Secure the Future(R) and Delivering
Hope(R) aim to support people living with HIV in Africa and with
viral hepatitis in Asia, through numerous private-public partnerships
and community based projects.

[1]

i. Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID): "Women
Living With HIV Are Part Of Response To HIV/AIDS - Challenging The
Action Plan On HIV/AIDS In The EU And Neighbouring Countries:
2014-2016," 30 April 2014. Available at http://www.awid.org/News-Anal
ysis/Announcements2/Women-living-with-HIV-are-part-of-response-to-HIV
-AIDS-challenging-the-Action-Plan-on-HIV-AIDS-in-the-EU-and-neighbour
ing-countries-2014-2016 . Accessed June 2014.

ii. International Organization for Migration (IOM). Maternal and
Child Healthcare for Immigrant Populations, 2009. Available at http:/
/www.migrant-health-europe.org/files/Maternal%20and%20Child%20Care_Ba
ckground%20Paper(1).pdf . Accessed June 2014.

iii. World Health Organization (WHO). Gender inequalities and HIV,
2014. Available from:
http://www.who.int/gender/hiv_aids/en/index.html. Accessed June 2014.

Media: Joanna Ritter, +33(0)1 5883 6509, joanna.ritter@bms.com

Video:
http://www.multivu.com/mnr/71400567-she-day-four-year-anniversary-celebration

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