A Strike Force to Champion AIDS Priorities

June 11, 2008—Six years after world governments pledged to undertake a massive political, financial and moral response to curb the AIDS pandemic, leaders have gathered again at the United Nations headquarters in New York to reignite their commitment.

Today, more than 33 million people live with HIV and AIDS worldwide, and nearly half of those infected are women and girls. Despite some success in increasing access to lifesaving anti-retroviral drugs, new infections continue to outpace treatment.

And, HIV infections among women and girls continue to rise rapidly in most corners of the world. In sub-Saharan Africa, women make up more than 60 percent of those living with HIV.

Among the thousands gathered June 10-11 in New York for the United Nations High-Level Meeting on AIDS is a new network of women that has joined to form a “strike force” of parliamentarians, journalists and community leaders committed to ending AIDS.

Celina D’Costa is one of them. When her husband died fourteen years ago of AIDS and she learned that she was infected, her in-laws threw her out of her house in western India. Homeless for a time, she vowed that other women wouldn’t find themselves in her situation. Today, she is an activist for the Indian Network for People Living with HIV.

Pamela Asigi and Mwendwa Kiogora are journalist from Kenya who joined Celina and the other members of the network at the UN High Level Meeting on AIDS.

She is joined by the Honorable Najma Heptulla, a leading parliamentarian who has led the charge for women’s equality and human rights in India. Others from the country, including parliamentarian Maya Singh, journalists Teresa Rehman and Ranjita Biswas, and medical doctor Shilpa Merchant are equally committed that women and girls should have the information to protect themselves against HIV and the resources to access adequate treatment and support.

“I have great hopes, I have great expectations,” said Najma Heptulla. By bringing together women from the media, legislature and community organizations, “I hope that we can be a powerful new movement” to confront the epidemic, she says.

These women and other leaders from India, Kenya and Mexico first joined together last week at CEDPA’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. to develop action plans to confront AIDS in their communities, especially among women and girls.

They identified common priorities, especially the need to address the unique and complex drivers of the epidemic among women and girls. Today, four out of five women living with HIV are infected within marriage or from a committed partner. Violence and poverty are also major contributors to the increasing infections among women and girls.

The women leaders are promoting these priorities at the United Nations review. They also will champion their priorities on June 12 during meetings with members of the U.S. Congress, which is currently debating the renewal of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

CEDPA’s partners in this effort to advance women’s leadership in the AIDS fight include the International Women’s Media Foundation and the Center for Women Policy Studies. The initiative is made possible by a generous donation from the Ford Foundation.

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