|
Dispatches from Nairobi AIDS Summit   
July 4, 2007—The July 4-7 YWCA International Women’s Summit brought together more than 2,000 women leaders and the world’s leading experts on AIDS in Nairobi, Kenya to address the unique and devastating impact of HIV and AIDS on women and girls. Read dispatches below from CEDPA staff and alumni who are in Nairobi, Kenya for the 2007 YWCA International Women's Summit on AIDS. A complete schedule of workshops, speakers and sessions for the International Women's Summit is available online.
Day 1: July 4, 2007July 4, 2007—The Summit opened with the Positive Women's Forum, co-sponsored by the International Community of Women Living with HIV and AIDS (ICW)—the only international network run for and by HIV postitive women from over 90 countries.
Outside, hundreds of women strategized, sang and danced in the Sokoni marketplace, set up in white tents in front of the Kenyatta International Conference Center. CEDPA met up with alumni including Beatrice Yieke, who is with the YWCA in Kenya, and Juliet Makokha, the secretary general of the National Council of Women in Kenya. Juliet Makokha, who is running for the Kenyan Parliament in the upcoming December elections, spoke about her experiences attending CEDPA’s 1985 Women in Management training. At the time, she was starting a new program to create environmental awareness and encourage energy conservation among women. Many rural Kenyan women are responsible for collecting firewood and other fuel for cooking and heat, creating a significant environmental impact.
Today, Juliet’s Parliamentary ambitions are a result of her work with women throughout her country. “I’ve trained so many women, it is now time to see them all succeed,” she said. She is running for a seat from the Luyia community, where there have been very few women in positions of leadership. She hopes to change that this December. Day 2: July 5, 2007July 5, 2007—The International women’s Summit opened today to the sounds of a Kenyan children’s choirs singing “AIDS, AIDS, why did you take everyone” before the audience that included Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, the first lady of Honduras and AIDS activist, community leaders, and YWCA delegates from more than 130 countries.
Dr. Kanyoro noted that with women and girls now at the center of the epidemic we must “empower, celebrate and contribute to building new leadership for women” to effectively fight AIDS. A year ago when the UN met to adopt recommendations to fight AIDS, “governments pledged to promote gender equality,” recalled Asha Rose Migiro, the new United Nations Deputy Secretary General. But, “despite our best intentions…we have yet to make the leap…to real positive change for women and girls.”
Still for every person on treatment “another six become infected,” she warned. “We must seize every opportunity to catch up on prevention” against transmission of HIV. "For example, now less than 1 in 10 pregnant women in countries such as Kenya are on treatment to prevent transmission to their children,” said Dr. Chan. She stated that “Poverty, gender inequities, and intimate partner violence are the drivers of the epidemic,” and women and girls, especially those living in sub-Saharan Africa , “bear the brunt of the epidemic."
Dr. Piot proposed that increased prevention, treatment and care must be put in the hands of women. And, the "first test" for all future efforts to fight AIDS should be, "does it pass the test for women?" After Dr. Piot's comments, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki presented 14 women with the World YWCA's Women Leading Change Awards. The awards are given to women who have shown outstanding leadership of community women in response to HIV/AIDS. One of the recipients was CEDPA alumna Gracia Violeta Ross who received the award for her achievements as the first woman to chair a People Living with HIV network in Latin America. Day 3: July 6, 2007
Inviolata participated in CEDPA's 2006 WomenLead in the Fight Against AIDS workshop. As an AIDS activist for more than a decade, she has been a force for positive women throughout Kenya. You can read her story here.
CEDPA led two skills-building workshops this afternoon for more than 50 women from countries including Argentina, Egypt, England, India, Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania. During a three-hour session, these participants identified characteristics of effective leaders, barriers to women's leadership in the AIDS response, and strategies to break through barriers within their communities. Day 4: July 7, 2007July 7, 2007—“If women really matter, where’s the leadership and the money?” was the question posed during the final day of the International Women’s Summit on AIDS. Representatives from the Ford Foundation, the Packard Foundation, the African Women’s Development Fund and others spoke at a morning session about how few international development resources currently go toward women. The resources for women are scarce despite the fact that women are the majority of the world’s poor and are more likely than men in Africa to be living with HIV.
Nigerian social entrepreneur Bisi Adeleye Fayemi, who heads the African Women’s Development Fund, challenged women’s organizations to develop and tap into resources within their local communities in order to make up the short fall in funding. She described the results of the African Women’s Development Fund, which raises funds from within Africa, and gave away more money to African women’s groups than the World Bank in the past year. The African Women’s Development Fund launched a new campaign at the AIDS Summit—the 13 Campaign—to encourage women and men to give from $13 to $13,000 in recognition of the 13 women in Africa who are infected with HIV for every 10 men who become infected. “We matter, we have the money, and we have the leadership,” Bisi said. The resources within Africa could be better tapped to solve the AIDS crisis, she argued.
|
|
