|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Children and young people are especially
vulnerable to HIV infection for a host of social and economic
reasons including poverty, sexual exploitation and violence, and
lack of access to HIV information and prevention
services.
HIV/AIDS will continue to affect the lives of several
generations of children. The impact will mark their communities for
decades as the numbers of impoverished children rise, their
insecurity worsens, education and work opportunities decline,
nurturing and support systems erode, and mortality rises.
Large-scale, long-term efforts are needed to cope with these harsh
new realities.
HIV/AIDS affects children in numerous and diverse
ways:
-
In 2001 14 million
children were orphaned by AIDS and the number risks being doubled
by 2010 if the response to the epidemic is not scaled up. A great
majority of these children will grow up living with extended
families, or in foster care, or on their own and will be prone to
discrimination, including access to health, education, and social
services.
-
An estimated 11.8
million young people aged 15 – 24 are living with HIV in 2002.
-
Girls
are particularly vulnerable; in many countries in sub-Saharan
Africa, young girls have infection rates 5-6 times higher than
boys of the same age group.
-
In 2001 alone, an
estimated 800,000 children were newly infected with HIV – almost
all through mother-to-child transmission.
-
The epidemic has
forced vast numbers of children into precarious circumstances,
exposing them to exploitation and abuse, and putting them at high
risk of also becoming infected with HIV.
-
Children in
households with a HIV-positive member suffer the trauma of caring
for ill family members. Seeing their parents or caregivers become
ill and die can lead to psychosocial stress, which is aggravated
by the stigma so often associated with HIV/AIDS.
-
Many children are
struggling to survive on their own in child-headed households,
frequently carrying the burden of caring for family members living
with HIV/AIDS.
-
Street children and
other marginalized young people, as well as children in conflict
situations, are also particularly vulnerable to HIV infection
because they often do not have available to them the basic healthy
environment – food, shelter, education and health services –
through which they can protect themselves from HIV and other
infectious diseases. Without adult guidance, life skills and means
of sustaining their livelihood, these children become easy victims
of exploitative and unhealthy child labour.
-
Increasing numbers
of children are withdrawn from schools to care for ill parents or
their siblings, thus losing opportunities for acquiring necessary
life skills needed for them to create sound and healthy households
and living environments.
___________________________________________________ |
Fact Sheet: Women and AIDS-- A Growing Challenge
Source: UNAIDS 2004
In the early days of the epidemic, men vastly outnumbered women among
people infected with HIV. In 1997, women made up 41% of all people living
with HIV. Today, nearly 50% of women are infected globally– close to 60%
in sub-Saharan Africa. Women are more physically susceptible to HIV
infection than men. Male-to-female transmission during sex is about twice
as likely to occur as female-to-male ones.
Key facts
- In Russia, with an estimated 860,000 people living with HIV, women
account for an increasing share of new HIV infections-- up from
one-in-four in 2001, to one-in-three just one year later.
- The epidemic's 'feminization' is most apparent in sub-Saharan
Africa, where close to 60% of those infected are women, and 75% of young
people infected are girls aged 15- 24.
- In South and South-East Asia, women accounted for just under 30% of
all HIV infections, a slight increase compared to end-2001 estimates.
- A recent report from Yemen suggests 7% of sex workers are
HIV-positive. Across the region, more in-depth studies are needed to
examine sex-work realities, especially street-based situations and their
potential contribution to HIV spread, first among sex workers and their
clients, and subsequently to clients' wives and children.
- In the United States, approximately half of the 40 000 new HIV
infections annually are among African-Americans-- women account for an
increasing proportion of these infections. AIDS is also the leading
cause of death for African-American women aged 25-34. Many of these
women do not engage in high-risk behavior, but are contracting HIV
through unsafe sex with their male partners, a significant share of whom
also have sex with men or inject drugs.
Increasing vulnerability
- Marriage and long-term monogamous relationships do not protect women
from HIV. In Cambodia, recent studies found 13% of urban and 10% of
rural men reported having sex with both a sex worker and their wife or
steady girlfriend. In Thailand, a 1999 study found that 75% of
HIV-infected women were likely to be infected by their husbands. In some
settings, it appears marriage actually increases women's HIV risk. In
some African countries, adolescent, married 15-19-year-old young women
have higher HIV infection levels than unmarried sexually active females
of the same age.
Prevention needs of girls and women
- Despite women's higher biological vulnerability, it is the legal,
social and economic disadvantages faced by women and girls in most
societies that greatly increase their HIV vulnerability. Therefore,
gender-sensitive approaches are the key when designing prevention
programs. The 'ABC' strategy to prevent sexual transmission of HIV
(Abstinence, being safer (by being faithful or reducing the number of
partners), and correct and consistent condom use) is of limited value to
women and girls because of their low social and economic status.
- Many women are denied the knowledge and tools to protect themselves
from HIV. Surveys in 38 countries found extremely low knowledge about
HIV among 15-24-year-old women.
Treatment and care
- Women's immune system may respond differently to HIV. On top of the
many HIV-related diseases and ailments suffered by both sexes,
HIV-positive women have a higher incidence of cervical cancer than women
without the virus. Also, when women are on antiretroviral treatment,
they may experience stronger side effects.
- Despite these facts, when treated equally, the differences between
men and women's survival rates disappear. However, in most parts of the
world, the social and economic power imbalances between men and women
raise fears that women are being denied equitable and timely access to
treatment options.
- In many countries, prevailing gender attitudes mean women and girls
are the last priority for health care. Husbands and elders often decide
whether to spend family resources on health care, or whether a woman can
take time away from her household duties to visit a health center. When
male and female family members are HIV-infected, and resources are
limited, addressing male treatment needs often come first.
- To reflect the global distribution of HIV by sex, which is nearly
50-50, women should constitute at least half of the millions of people
in developing countries expected to gain access to antiretrovirals in
coming years. Communities need to overcome barriers to women being
tested for HIV, including the risk of violence they may face if they are
found HIV-positive.
The care economy
- When the male of a household becomes ill, wives provide care and
take on additional duties to support the family, but when women fall
sick, older or younger women step in to care for them and take
responsibility for AIDS-affected children. The value of the time, energy
and resources required to cook, clean, shop, wash or care for the
family's young,sick and elderly is called the 'care economy', which is
vast and essential to economic life.
- In developing countries, having 'AIDS in the family' poses strains
on women in agricultural communities. In addition to their household
work, many rural women play a significant role in the economic
activities that put food on their families' table and caring for the
sick disrupts this work.
- It is crucial to recognize and support the care economy with
adequate resources and enabling policies. Ways to ease women's
disproportionate care burden in AIDS-affected households are available,
many similar to those used for more generalized gender inequalities.
- Possible options for resolving care economy problems include:
cooperative day care and nutrition centers that assist women with their
workload; nutritional and educational assistance for orphans; home care
for people living with or affected by HIV, including orphans;
labor-sharing and income-generating projects; and improving rural
households' access to labor, land, capital and management skills.
- The Global Coalition on Women and AIDS, spearheaded
by UNAIDS, seeks to improve the daily lives of women and girls in
developing countries by reducing their vulnerability to HIV.
This fact sheet is from UNAIDS' website (PDF format); it has been modified to reflect US
English spelling conventions.
Only General Conference speaks for The United Methodist Church.
The UNAIDS resources on this site are not official United Methodist
material; they are provided as important information pertaining to this
annual event and are © Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
2004. Extracts of the information in UNAIDS'
website may be reviewed, reproduced or translated for research
or private study but not for sale or for use in conjunction with
commercial purposes. Any use of information in UNAIDS' website should be
accompanied by an acknowledgement of UNAIDS as the source, citing the
uniform resource locator (URL) of the article. Reproduction or translation
of substantial portions of the website, or any use other than for
educational or other non-commercial purposes, requires explicit, prior
authorization in writing.
|
