Maria de Bruyn is a Senior Policy Advisor for Ipas and a medical anthropologist by training. At Ipas, she has identified, researched, and publicized linkages between abortion and other sexual and reproductive health issues, including HIV/AIDS. Ipas is an international women’s health and rights organization working to reduce deaths and injuries from unsafe abortion.
Marion Stevens has a background as a midwife, in medical anthropology and in public development. She has worked in the area of sexual and reproductive health and HIV/AIDS for some 20 years. Her work has included conducting participatory research, policy analysis and development and advocacy. She has worked with a range of stakeholders both locally and internationally. Currently she is directing the Women and HIV/AIDS Gauge at the Health Systems Trust (South Africa) to engage with the continuum of HIV/AIDS care through a sexual and reproductive health and rights lens.
A truly gender-based approach to women and HIV/AIDS must approach women and girls both as persons independent of their societal roles and in relation to their multiple roles and needs.
