Image of one of the promotional images of the campaign featuring the Carnival queens.
Credit: UNAIDS

Last week was Carnival in Panama.  As part of the celebrations during 11-12 February, the Queens of “Calle Arriba” and “Calle Abajo” —representing opposite neighbourhoods— competed against each other in a variety of contests. However when it comes to HIV, the two rivals joined forces to prevent new HIV infections among women.

UNAIDS, in partnership with the Panamanian Carnival Boards of “Calle Arriba” and “Calle Abajo”—the national institutions in charge of planning and coordinating activities related to this festivity— the National AIDS Programme, and PROBIDSIDA, launched a national campaign entitled “I decide, I take care of myself” (Yo decido, yo me cuido).

The campaign, which will run until the end of February, aims to help reduce gender inequalities, empower women and promote sexual and reproductive rights. One of the major goals is to ensure women can make informed decisions in relation to their sexual health, especially when it comes to preventing HIV.

“If we want that no more women get infected with HIV in Panama we need to join efforts at all levels, including institutions, civil society organizations and international agencies. This is why we decided to endorse this initiative,” said Pilar De Amores, Legal Representative of “Calle Arriba” Carnival Board.

In the last decade the number of new HIV infections has been on the rise among young women in Panama. A national survey on sexual and reproductive health held in 2009 and 2010 found that only 9% of women use condoms as a preventive measure during sex. Gender inequality is a major driving force behind the lack of reproductive and sexual rights of women in the country.

“Gender inequalities affect women´s power to insist on and negotiate safe sex practices like condom use, and thus protect themselves from HIV” explains Ricardo Garcia, UNAIDS Country Coordinator for Panama and Costa Rica. “We have created this campaign to increase the recognition of women as having sexual rights and capable of exercising them, in line with the UNAIDS action framework on women, girls, gender equity and HIV”.

The campaign includes television spots that are being broadcast on national networks as well as posters in schools, organizations and on the streets featuring the Carnival queens calling on Panamanian young women to take the lead and protect themselves from HIV.  As part of the campaign, the Queens received special training on issues related to HIV prevention and gender inequalities, in order to participate in public events and media programmes promoting the campaign.

“Women need access to HIV information, education, and services to have control over our bodies and be able to negotiate the use of condoms with our partners,” said Maruquel Madeleine González Velásquez, Queen of “Calle Arriba”. “I feel extremely accomplished to be part of this project,” she added.

The 2012 State of World Population report focuses on the need for more policy and programmatic action to ensure that all people have access to family planning.
Credit: UNFPA

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has launched its 2012 State of World Population report entitled “By Choice, Not by Chance”. The new publication places renewed focus on the need for more policy and programmatic action to ensure that all people can equally access family planning services—which is critical to individuals’ abilities to exercise their reproductive rights.

This rights-based approach, the report says, might be the premise for the global sustainable development framework that would succeed the 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

By enabling individuals to choose the number and spacing of their children, family planning has allowed women, and their children, to live healthier, longer lives. However, not everyone can yet plan their sexual and reproductive life. The report highlights that a staggering 222 million women of childbearing age in developing countries still do not have access to modern contraceptives. This places them at higher risk of HIV. Women and girls of reproductive age are the hardest hit by the HIV epidemic in Zimbabwe, for example, and HIV is responsible for about one in four maternal deaths. In Malawi, lack of information, long distances to services and unfriendly providers contributed to high rates of unintended pregnancy and HIV among adolescents and young people.

Despite international commitments to remove barriers to family planning for all population groups, research finds that young people’s needs remain largely neglected. The report notes that the largest generation of young people in history is unable to fully exercise their reproductive rights and prevent unintended pregnancies, mitigate the risks of school dropout, or protect themselves from sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.

Each day, 2 500 youth, the majority of them female, become newly infected with HIV, the report states.

A number of other important population groups are neglected by family planning systems or sometimes face insurmountable barriers: young people, unmarried adults, people who are separated from their partners, older men, people with disabilities, refugees, people living with HIV and ethnic minorities. An enormous need exists to provide focused and sustainable services to these groups. The report finds that the costs of ignoring the right to family planning will exacerbate poverty, exclusion, poor health and gender inequality.

There are signs of progress, however. Viet Nam has expanded its reproductive health services, for example, to include family planning, pre- and post-natal care and HIV prevention.

Last July, at the London Summit on Family Planning, donor countries and foundations together pledged $2.6 billion to make family planning available to 120 million women in developing countries with unmet needs by 2020. Developing countries themselves also pledged to increase support.

But, according to the report, an additional $4.1 billion is necessary each year to meet the unmet need for family planning. This investment would save lives by preventing unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions.

Money is just one part of the solution, it says. The report also calls on governments and leaders to take or reinforce a rights-based approach to family planning; secure an emphasis on family planning in the global sustainable development agenda; ensure equality by focusing on specific excluded groups; and raise the funds to invest fully in family planning.

A group of nine inspirational young women born with HIV recently came together at UNAIDS headquarters in Geneva to share their experiences and to build a foundation for work in the future. The gathering was part of a broader agenda to promote and protect the human rights, especially the sexual and reproduction health and rights, of all women living with HIV. This is their message to the world which they would like to share on the first ever International Day of the Girl Child.

Our Dreams

We are the first generation of babies born and to grow up living with HIV. Today, we are young women with dreams for our communities which we come from and the world we want to create. Telling our story is difficult but we use our personal experiences to change, impact and shape the world we live in.

As unique as we are, we are growing up to be wives, lovers, mothers, caregivers, mentors, professionals, and world leaders. We want to be alive, not just to live, but have a right to whole-full lives as girls and women filled with desires, aspirations, sexualities and emotions. To achieve our dreams we need a fair, protective and supportive world; we refuse to live in isolation.

Whether the world likes it, we are sexual beings and have a right to have babies. We are willing to take on the responsibility to go through a tough process to become pregnant, carry our babies for nine months and deliver them safely and healthy. We are determined to do what it takes to keep our children healthy and free of HIV for the rest of their lives. To achieve this we need accessible, on-going quality health care and services that cater to our choices and decisions. We want HIV to stop with us.

We live in communities filled with discrimination and prejudices that comes in all forms. First and foremost, our health care setting is filled with doctors and nurses who are still misinformed and uninformed, and they carry their own prejudices and judgments against us. We demand that our families be supportive and invest in our lives. The final decision to disclose our HIV status belongs to us and only us, not to our families, partners, friends, health care providers or educators. As much as we are HIV positive, we are still sisters, aunts, mothers, and grandmothers of nations.  The world is blind and ignorant that we are growing up with HIV and becoming adults, and our communities, including the HIV community, have not yet accepted us as young women born with HIV.

We deserve to love and to be loved. Love free of abuse, emotional torture, unfair treatment; rather love which is compromising, dignified, compassionate, kind and empowering. Together as partners we can share the responsibility to keep each other safe; we don’t pass HIV to our partners and they don’t pass any sexually transmitted infections to us and together we don’t infect each other. Communication is vital for healthy partner relationships, respect and trust.

We have solutions and we are the future. Together, we stand tall and fight as one.  

Cristina, USA / Grissel, USA / Kristofina, Namibia / Juliana, Kenya / Lweendo, Zambia / Maryliza, South Sudan / Matilda, UK / Maureen, UK  / Yana, Ukraine

Group picture at the launch of the GlobalPOWER Women Network Africa meeting in Harareon 24 May. From left to right: Mr Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director; HE Morgan Tsvangirai, Prime Minister of Zimbabwe; Dr Navanethem Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights; Hon Thokozani Khupe, Deputy Prime Minister of Zimbabwe; HE Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe; Hon Erastus Mwencha, Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission; and Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Minister of Finance, Nigeria.
Credit: UNAIDS/D.Kwande

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé concluded his first official visit to Zimbabwe on 25 May after meeting with President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan R. Tsvangirai to highlight the country’s progress in the AIDS response.

President Mugabe and Mr Sidibé met on the sidelines of the inaugural meeting of the GlobalPOWER Women Network Africa, which was launched in Harare on 24 May. In their meeting, they reviewed Zimbabwe’s success in mitigating the impact of HIV as well as the opportunities to further the country’s response.

Mr Sidibé commended the collective efforts made by the Government of Zimbabwe for having maintained community engagement and service provision to expand access to HIV prevention and treatment services during a difficult period. “The Government of Zimbabwe’s support for the national AIDS response bridges parties and portfolios,” said Mr Sidibé. “This has resulted in a significant reduction of adult HIV prevalence and a steady decline in the number of new HIV infections.”

Zimbabwe has achieved one of the sharpest declines in HIV prevalence in Southern Africa, from 27% in 1997 to just over 14% in 2010. With 10 times fewer resources for AIDS per capita than other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Zimbabwe has expanded coverage of antiretroviral treatment among adults, from 15% in 2007 to 80% in 2010. At the end of 2011, nearly half a million people in the country were receiving lifesaving HIV treatment and care.

President Mugabe and Mr Sidibé discussed country ownership and shared responsibility, highlighting the importance of African countries to contribute greater domestic resources to complement the investments from international partners. President Mugabe agreed to support the agenda for country ownership and shared responsibility with other African Heads of State at the upcoming Africa Union Summit in Lilongwe, Malawi.

Boosting domestic AIDS investments

In a separate meeting with Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister, Morgan R. Tsvangirai, Mr Sidibé lauded the success of Zimbabwe’s ‘AIDS Levy’, a tax on income to increase domestic resources for the national HIV programme. This innovative approach has enabled Zimbabwe to diversify its domestic funding for its AIDS response, raising an estimated US$ 26 million in 2011. This year the levy is expected to raise US$ 30 million.

“The Zimbabwe AIDS Levy is an excellent example that demonstrates to other African countries how to generate domestic resources to maintain and own their national AIDS responses,” said Mr. Sidibé. “I encourage the Government of Zimbabwe to explore how this initiative could be expanded to tap into the informal sector to boost the resources of the trust fund.”

An important focus of the national AIDS response in Zimbabwe is the elimination of new HIV infections among children and keeping their mothers alive. The number of sites providing services to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) in the country has nearly doubled in recent years, from 920 in 2008 to 1 560 in 2010. According to the Progress report 2011: Global HIV/AIDS response, an estimated 86% of HIV-positive pregnant Zimbabwean women received antiretroviral prophylaxis in 2010, compared to only 17% in 2008.

Commenting on Zimbabwe’s progress in this key area, Prime Minister Tsvangirai highlighted that more work remains ahead in the national AIDS response. “There is improvement in Zimbabwe when it comes to AIDS, but we still have many challenges and need to closely collaborate with the international community,” stressed the Prime Minister. “Zimbabwe needs to recognize and build on the encouraging progress we made so far.”

While applauding the Government’s commitment to eliminate new HIV infections among children and keeping their mothers alive by 2015, the UNAIDS Executive Director encouraged the Prime Minister to take additional measures to protect the health and rights of women and girls.

The UNAIDS Executive Director with Zimbabwean Deputy Prime Minister, Honourable Thokozani Khupe in Harare, 23 May 2012.
Credit: UNAIDS/D.Kwande

“Zimbabwe’s constitution-making process presents unprecedented opportunities to revisit laws to better protect women and girls,” said Mr Sidibe. “The government should considering amending the legal age of marriage for girls from 16 to 18, which is the age of majority in Zimbabwe.”

Mr Sidibe further emphasized the importance of an inclusive AIDS response that ensures the provision of live-saving services to all people, including sex workers, people who use drugs, mobile populations and men who have sex with men.

Shortly after his arrival in Harare on 23 May, the UNAIDS Executive Director visited the Epworth Polyclinic in Harare to see Zimbabwe’s efforts in bringing integrated health and social services to eliminate new HIV infections among children. At the clinic, he met many mothers with their children who—thanks to effective PMTCT services—were born HIV free.

The Epworth Polyclinic is one of the 1 560 facilities in the country that provide integrated maternal and child health services, including antenatal care, HIV counselling and testing, PMTCT interventions, early infant diagnosis, immunization, reproductive health counselling and nutritional support. The clinic also promotes male involvement through its partnership with Padare, a social practice that brings together traditional and local leaders, grandfathers, fathers, uncles and brothers to discuss issues related to gender equality and HIV prevention, including among children.

During the visit to the Epworth Polyclinic, Mr Sidibé said, “It is evident that Zimbabwe is facing major challenges, but what I am seeing today is a bold example of how you have united to establish community-centred services that integrate health, nutrition and social aspects. This kind of partnership which is not limited only to the international community at the top but also with communities at the household level can bring about radical change.”

On 24 May, Mr Sidibé addressed the inaugural GlobalPOWER Africa Women Network meeting in Harare. In his remarks, the Executive Director applauded Zimbabwe’s Deputy Prime Minister, Honourable Thokozani Khupe, for her key role as President of the GlobalPOWER Women Network Africa. The two-day high-level meeting brought together hundreds of women leaders from across Africa and beyond to generate greater action for women’s empowerment and the advancement of sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and girls.

Zimbabwean President HE Robert Mugabe addresses participants at the opening of the GlobalPOWER Woman Network Africa meeting in Harare. Joining the President were UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay. 24 May 2012.
Credit: UNAIDS/D.Kwande

Leading African women from national ministries and parliaments, the business community, networks of women living with HIV, and civil society and development organizations are in Zimbabwe’s capital to attend the inaugural meeting of the GlobalPOWER Women Network Africa. This women-led initiative will provide a strategic political platform to accelerate HIV prevention and sexual and reproductive health and rights responses for women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa.

Across the African continent, women and girls carry a disproportionate burden of the HIV epidemic, constituting 59% of all people living with HIV. In some countries, young women aged 15-24 years are as much as eight times more likely to be HIV-positive than young men. Prevailing gender inequalities, including gender-based violence, socio-economic disparities, and disempowering laws and policies increase women’s and girls’ risk of HIV infection.

Held in collaboration with the African Union and UNAIDS, the meeting was officially opened by HE President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe. “One of the objectives of this conference is to call upon governments and partners to mobilize national high-level leadership and country ownership in the mitigation of HIV and sexual and reproductive health,” said President Mugabe. He used his speech to draw attention to the role of men in fully supporting women in accessing health services and helping change the inequalities faced by women and girls.

In his remarks, HE Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai called for greater gender equality. “Fifty-nine percent of people living with HIV in Africa are women—it is imperative we address and mitigate this striking fact. In Zimbabwe, this is mainly linked with gender inequality,” said Mr Tsvangirai. “Zimbabwe and Africa as a whole will benefit greatly from addressing gender inequality, which, coupled with lack of education and economic empowerment, hinders women’s active participation in the development agenda."

Addressing participants, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé highlighted the important role of the women’s network in accelerating the AIDS response. “This inaugural meeting of the GlobalPower Women Network Africa comes at a critical time,” said Mr Sidibé. “It is perfectly positioned as a strategic political platform to advance innovative approaches that positively impact the lives of women and girls in Africa. And not just in relation to HIV but also to promote sexual and reproductive health and rights and zero tolerance for gender-based violence.”

Over the next two days, more than 300 participants will engage in a series of plenary discussions and panels surrounding key issues impacting the lives of women and girls across the continent. These include HIV prevention, maternal and child health, gender-based violence, gender equality, leadership accountability, and national ownership of the UNAIDS Action Agenda for Women and Girls. Examples of successful approaches will also be shared to foster greater innovation in the delivery of services.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, emphasized the intrinsic link between maternal and child health and human rights. “When women’s rights are violated, it stops them from leading a healthy and prosperous life—it takes away their freedom of choice to have or start a family,” she said. Ms Pillay also stressed that gender-based violence and stigma and discrimination impedes women’s access to maternal health services.

Nigerian Minister of finance Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Lweala addressing the delegates at the official opening of the Global Power Woman Network Africa in Harare at Harare International Conference Center on 24 May 2012.
Credit: UNAIDS/D.Kwande

Zimbabwe’s Deputy Prime Minister, Hon Thokozani Khupe, also acting as the President of the GlobalPOWER Women Network Africa, drew attention to the central role of women and girls in the AIDS response across the continent. “To achieve the vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths, it is critical to recognize women and girls as key agents in making this vision a reality. Society has to invest in the health of women and girls,” said Ms Khupe.

Representing the African Union Commission at the meeting, Deputy Chairperson, HE Erastus Mwencha, stated, “The burden of HIV cannot be successfully undertaken without paying due attention to issues of reproductive health and rights. Individuals, families and communities must have a say in the implementation of programmes."

Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, was the Guest of Honour at the opening and delivered the keynote address. In her remarks, she told participants that a country’s progress is linked to the health of its female population.

"Any country that neglects investing in women and girls should not expect real growth. It is smart economics to invest in girls’ education, health and social well-being as no woman should die of [AIDS] and child birth,” she said,  "We can make a difference in Africa, and change is already happening—but we women have to push harder for greater change because no one can do it for us. This is why the GlobalPOWER Africa is so important. We need our women leaders to call for investment in women and girls and monitor how money is spent.”

The meeting will result in the “Harare Call for Action”, a unified action plan for women’s health with a specific focus on sexual and reproductive health and rights in the context of HIV. The Call for Action will serve as an important political and advocacy tool, strongly promoting regional ownership and shared responsibility to advance the AIDS response and the wider gender equality agenda.

The idea to create an Africa-specific GlobalPOWER Women Network stemmed from a September 2010 meeting in Washington, DC. At that meeting prominent African female decision-makers came together alongside their American peers to discuss how to accelerate the implementation of the UNAIDS Agenda for Women and Girls. The GlobalPOWER initiative was founded in 2006 by the Center for Women Policy Studies, a US-based women’s organization.

Several other high-level representatives attended the launch of the women’s network including the United States Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Charles A. Ray, the Vice-President of Zimbabwe, Hon Joyce Mujuru, and the Deputy Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, Hon Professor Arthur Mutambara. A message of support was received from the Executive Director of UN Women, Michelle Bachelet.

Julia Lasker participated in a panel discussion entitled Achieving MDG6 in Eastern Europe and Central Asia: Focus on Women and Girls.
Credit: UNAIDS/Stan Honda

The glamorous world of pop music and the grim realities of the HIV epidemic in Eastern Europe and Central Asia may seem like strange bedfellows. However, Russian singer and AIDS activist, Julia Lasker, engages in both with full commitment.

Ms Lasker became interested in AIDS in 2009 as she had friends living with HIV. She realised how limited the understanding of AIDS was among young women and, since then, has used her public profile and popularity with young audiences to raise awareness of HIV. “I feel personally responsible for many young girls whom I may prevent from being infected just by providing them with knowledge about the virus and how to prevent it,” she said.

Last week, Ms Lasker returned from New York, where she participated in a panel discussion entitled Achieving MDG6 in Eastern Europe and Central Asia: Focus on Women and Girls organized as part of the UN Commission on the Status of Women. During the discussion she called for a new approach to HIV.  “There is a huge need to openly discuss the issue in the society, encourage people to test for HIV, encourage young people to protect themselves and their loved ones, call for tolerance.”

Hosted by the Government of Russia together with the Governments of Finland and Sweden and UNAIDS, the panel discussion brought together government, civil society and UN representatives to find ways to effectively respond to the growing HIV epidemic in Eastern Europe and Central. The event was a follow up to the International Forum on MDG 6—to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases—convened in October 2011 under the leadership of the Government of Russia.

“It is clear that countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia need to act quickly to stop the growing HIV epidemic among women and girls,” said Dimitry Maksimychev, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations. “With less than 1,000 days now until 2015, we need to work together—governments, donors, international organizations and civil society—to maximize our impact. Russia stands ready to put its leadership into action assisting countries in the region to achieve MDG6,” added Mr Maksimychev.

Julia Lasker, like many other women and men engaged in the HIV response in the region, remains determined. “If I can get this message to at least a few people, it's a step in achieving the goal of zero new HIV infections, zero AIDS-related deaths and zero discrimination.”

Women and HIV in Eastern Europe and Central Asia

“Women are especially at risk of HIV due to multiple factors such as economic vulnerability, fearing or experiencing violence, and difficulties in negotiating for safe sex,” said UNAIDS Regional Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia a.i., Dr Jean-Elie Malkin. “In extreme cases women combine all vulnerabilities associated with drug use, sex work, social marginalisation and stigma and discrimination which prevent them from accessing HIV services,” he added.

Julia Lasker meeting with Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Dr Asha-Rose Migiro
Credit: UNAIDS/Stan Honda

The number of people living with HIV in Eastern Europe and Central Asia almost tripled between 2000 and 2009. In 2010 there were an estimated 1.5 million people living with HIV in the region. The number of new HIV infections acquired through heterosexual contact has increased by 150% in the last decade. HIV represents a growing threat for women in the region. Women make up a rising proportion of people living with HIV—up to 50% in some countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. In Russia, for example, the number of young women with HIV aged 15-24 is two times higher than among men of the same age.

While significant progress has been made in some areas—in 2010, 88% of pregnant women living with HIV in Eastern Europe and Central Asia received treatment to prevent HIV transmission to their child—challenges remain. Recognising that not all women are reached by HIV services and programmes, the Government of Russia together with UNAIDS and partners are collaborating to develop guidance on how to increase access to HIV treatment, care and support services for all women—including people who use drugs, their sexual partners, sex workers, prisoners and other key populations at higher risk of infection.

“There is opportunity and space for addressing the HIV needs of women, using their sexual and reproductive health concerns as an entry point,” said Evgenia Maron, of the Astra Foundation, an AIDS service organization in Russia. “There is a need to meaningfully involve women living with and affected by HIV in all aspects of the AIDS response. We know what our realities are, we know what we need and we know what the solutions are,” she added.

Dr Babatunde Osotimehin.
Credit: UNFPA

Linking sexual and reproductive health and HIV is of critical importance. Worldwide more than 80% of HIV infections are sexually transmitted. In addition, sexual and reproductive ill health and HIV are fueled by similar causes such as poverty, limited access to services, lack of correct information, gender inequality and social marginalization.

On 8 June, during a side event at this week’s General Assembly High Level Meeting on AIDS in New York, the question of how exactly such linkages can be strengthened was explored. The event was sponsored by UNAIDS, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF).

The highly interactive session looked at the issue through the prism of five key thematic areas: cost-effectiveness and cost savings of linkages; prevention of mother to child transmission though a sexual and reproductive health platform; comprehensive sexuality education for young people; ending gender-based violence; and human rights of people living with HIV.

Making ‘people-sense’

In his opening remarks, Dr Babatunde Osotimehin, UNFPA Executive Director, explained how the integration of sexual and reproductive health and HIV services makes ‘people-sense’. These services include testing for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, prevention of mother-to-child transmission, support for fertility decisions, and access to condoms, contraception and correct information.  He went on to emphasize wider policy and human rights implications.

“Linking sexual and reproductive health and HIV goes beyond integrating health services,” he said. “It demands from us that we fortify the human rights platform–ending stigma, violence and discrimination.”

Human rights and the right to health were said to be at the core of greater integration of services.  A broader human rights agenda can also be promoted that goes beyond service delivery and tackles legal reforms, such as those relating to the right to information and freedom from violence, abuse and coercion.

Sharing ideas and experience

The participants shared ideas and experiences of how those working in the fields of HIV and sexual and reproductive health have combined their efforts to make interventions more effective in creative and innovative ways, including strategies to strengthen treatment as a prevention option.

It was stressed that mother- and child-centred care can improve both sexual and reproductive health and HIV outcomes. For many women, pregnancy is the first point of access in the health system and they can benefit from a range of interventions, including HIV prevention and treatment integrated into routine maternal health care; family planning; and preventing and managing sexually transmitted infections and gender-based violence.

The discussion also showed that when comprehensive sexuality education is effectively implemented on a national scale, there is potential for cost saving from averting HIV infections, other STIs and unintended pregnancies.

Participants examined how men can benefit from greater integration. For instance, in countries where voluntary male circumcision is being implemented for HIV prevention, the number of men accessing other sexual and reproductive services, such as prevention of mother-to-child transmission and treatment of STIs, has increased. 

The meeting closed with agreement that linking sexual and reproductive health and the HIV response, especially in a climate of austerity, is a gateway to strengthening both the human rights agenda and health systems.

Michele Bachelet, UN Women’s Executive Director speaks during the panel discussion on "Taking the Women and Girls Centred HIV Response to the Next Level - Advancing Gender Equality" at UN Headquarters, NYC on 25 February 2011.
Credit: UNAIDS/B. Hamilton

Women and girls are disproportionately affected by the AIDS epidemic. It is estimated that 51% of the people living with HIV worldwide are female, and in sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean this figure is close to 60%. HIV is now the leading cause of death among women of reproductive age.

What can and must be done to challenge this stark situation? The 55^th meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), currently taking place in New York, provided a valuable forum for UNAIDS and UN Women to find answers and set strategic directions.

On 25 February a panel discussion, jointly moderated by Michele Bachelet, UN Women’s Executive Director and Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS, examined how to capitalise on political commitment to accelerate HIV responses which place women and girls at their very centre. A key focus was the urgent need to increase the involvement of women and girls living with HIV in the AIDS response, to invest in them as agents of change.

Eminent panellists included, HE Thokozani Khupe, Deputy Prime Minister of Zimbabwe; HE Commissioner Bience Gawanas, the African Union’s Commissioner for Social Affairs and Anandi Yuvraj of the International Community of Women Living with HIV.  

This interactive session used the Agenda for Women and Girls [1] as a basis for the discussions and built on the conclusions from an earlier High Level Consultation on the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and girls living with HIV which took place on 24 February.

The UNAIDS Agenda for Women and Girls, launched in March 2010 at the 54th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, was developed through a highly consultative process with representatives from governments, women living with HIV, women’s groups and the United Nations family including UNIFEM (now part of UN Women). Since then 56 countries have rolled-out the Agenda with partners from these same diverse constituencies.

The Agenda has given legitimacy to women and girl-related issues, including gender-based violence and sexual and reproductive health services, previously downplayed and neglected in national HIV platforms. The panel emphasized the fact that the call to action has already prompted many countries to implement strategic interventions, such ’know your rights/know your laws’ programmes.

Participants also explored exactly how the newly established organization UN Women presents a major opportunity to promote greater gender equality and empower women and girls to make free and informed decisions about their lives and their health. 

[1] UNAIDS Agenda for Accelerated Country Action for Women and Girls, Gender Equality and HIV