Advocates, Global Agencies Call for Shift in AIDS Strategies

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                CONTACT:  Ketayoun Darvich-Kodjouri
May 23, 2006                                               202-939-2654; cell 202-997-1084

Advocates, Global Agencies Call for Shift in AIDS Strategies

25 Years into Epidemic, Greater Focus on Women Critical to Turning Tide

Washington, May 23, 2006—In advance of a major global political review of AIDS, activists and global agencies working on the frontlines of HIV/AIDS today called for a major shift in prevention, care and treatment efforts to address the realities of women’s lives.

“We will not turn around the epidemic unless we take bold actions that redirect policies, funding and programs to reflect the global face of AIDS—which is increasingly women and girls,” said Yolonda C. Richardson, president of the Centre for Development and Population Activities, at a press conference held in Washington, DC today.

AIDS was first identified 25 years ago by the Centers for Disease Control. The last decade has seen a quadrupling of global spending against AIDS, but infection rates continue to rise in nearly every region, especially among women and girls.

Today, more than 17 million women live with HIV worldwide, and three out of four are in sub-Saharan Africa, according to UNAIDS. In the United States, AIDS is now the leading cause of death for African American women 25 to 34. In Latin America, the rate of new HIV infections among women is almost double of that among men.

“Women are now at the center of the AIDS pandemic. They must be at the center of renewed efforts to halt its spread,” said Pauline Muchina, Senior Women and AIDS Advocacy Officer at the UNAIDS-led Global Coalition on Women and AIDS. Muchina called for more AIDS resources to be devoted to women and girls, and for women, particularly women living with HIV, to be involved when AIDS programs are designed, implemented and assessed.

The Washington press conference was held in advance of a United Nations review of AIDS that will take place May 31-June 2 in New York City. There, First Lady Laura Bush is expected to head the U.S. delegation that will join with other governments and more than 1,000 AIDS experts and activists to review five years of action, challenges and progress since the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS was adopted by world governments in 2001.

As governments begin debating how to combat AIDS, they should consider the “enormous stigma and discrimination” that magnifies the effect of the epidemic on women’s lives and presents barriers to testing, treatment and care, said Inviolata Mwali Mmbwavi, who heads a national coalition of people living with HIV and AIDS in Kenya.

Kenyan women fear “disclosing their HIV status to their husbands and families because they fear abandonment, violence or eviction from homes and communities,” Mmbwavi said.

Tendayi Westerhof, a Zimbabwean fashion model and head of Public Personalities Against AIDS Trust, said that “women are often blamed for bringing home AIDS,” leaving them without family support when they declare their status.

“This is in fact what happened to me,” Westerhof said. “I was left without any family support or resources when I discovered my HIV positive status and I heard the same story from so many women who were abandoned by their husbands even when it was the husband who brought home the disease.”

Westerhof called for “more resources [to be] set aside to provide women living with HIV and AIDS with life skills, education, training and increased access to financial support.”

At the press conference, these advocates joined the Centre for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA) in calling on governments to:

• Involve the leadership of women’s groups and networks to ensure AIDS policies and prevention, care and treatment programs reflect the realities of women’s lives.

• Fund comprehensive HIV prevention programs that include public education, condom distribution and equal access to reproductive health care, especially for girls and women. This includes expanding access to women-initiated methods of preventing HIV infection, such as female condoms, and accelerating research into new methods such as microbicides.

• Involve men as full partners in changing practices that fuel the epidemic among women, such as sexual coercion, violence against women and harmful practices like child marriage.

• Promote the rights and status of women and girls by expanding their access to education, training, labor markets, technical assistance and inheritance, and giving them equality with men under the law.

Both Mmbwavi and Westerhof are featured in a new magazine released by CEDPA that profiles 12 women leaders working on the frontlines against AIDS around the world. These leaders share powerful stories about the affect of HIV and AIDS on their lives, and creative approaches to improve prevention, treatment and care for women and their families.

The Centre for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA) has worked for 30 years to improve the lives of women and girls in developing countries. Its programs increase educational opportunities for girls and youth, ensure access to lifesaving HIV/AIDS and reproductive health information and services, and strengthen women’s leadership in their nations.

“At CEDPA, we believe that when women move forward, the world moves with them,” said Yolonda Richardson. “This has never been more true than it is in the case of AIDS,” she said.

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[NOTE TO EDITORS: Request media statements and a copy of the WomenLead in the Fight Against AIDS magazine from Ketayoun Darvich-Kodjouri at 202-939-2654 or cell: 202-997-1084].

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