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July 30, 2008
World YWCA
http://www.worldywca.org
sylvie.jacquat@worldywca.org
New AIDS Report: Global HIV Infection Down, but
Women Remain at Rrisk
Report Calls on Governments to Improve
Status of Women
A new report released by UNAIDS indicates that the HIV epidemic is
slowing or stabilising in many regions. Yet women and young people remain at
particular risk of HIV infection. The UNAIDS ‘2008 Report on the global AIDS
Epidemic’ shows that although young people are waiting longer before becoming
sexually active, many still do not have accurate information on HIV
transmission and how to prevent infection. The report points to a recent
survey of 15-24 year olds that found only 38% of girls could correctly
identify how HIV is transmitted compared to 40% of boys. “We must ensure
women and girls have the information and resources they need to protect
themselves,” proclaimed Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, General Secretary of the
World YWCA speaking in response to the latest data on the AIDS epidemic,
“Governments must invest in sexual reproductive health and HIV education to
ensure the prevalence continues to decline.”
“We
are pleased that the report recognises that the status of women in society
has an impact on HIV and AIDS,” Susan Brennan, World YWCA President said as
she welcomed the report’s emphasis on the role of government and
international donors to implement strategies to increase women’s economic
independence. To support the importance of women’s status in society, the
report refers to a recent study that found that women who lack sufficient
food are 70% less likely to perceive personal control in sexual
relationships, 50% more likely to engage in intergenerational sex, 80% more
likely to engage in survival sex, and 70% more likely to have unprotected sex
than women receiving adequate nutrition.
“Reducing
gender inequality is a crucial step in reversing the HIV epidemic,” Brennan
pointed out, “Civil society and women’s organisations like the YWCA must
continue to challenge gender roles and cultural practises that put women and
girls at risk.” The report refers to a meta-analysis
of programmes to promote gender equality that found programmes that expressly
aimed to transform gender roles through critical reflection, role play and
other interactions were most likely to be effective in producing changes in
targeted attitudes and behaviours.
Although women are at risk, the report
reveals that more HIV-positive women than men are receiving treatment. This
sex disparity is particularly pronounced in generalised epidemics, the report
explains, a possible consequence of the fact that many HIV-positive women
have two portals of entry for treatment: HIV treatment programmes and
programmes to prevent mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT). From 2005 to 2007
the percentage of HIV-positive pregnant women receiving antiretroviral drugs
to prevent mother-to-child transmission went up from 14% to 33%. In this same
period, the number of new infections among children fell from 410,000 to
370,000.
“Although this news is uplifting, the
World YWCA continues to advocate for PMTCT programmes to be revised and to
ensure mothers are not treated as vessels and vectors, but that through
preventing transmission– the woman is also kept alive,” said Sophie Dilmitis,
World YWCA HIV and AIDS coordinator.
Brennan, Gumbonzvanda and Dilmitis, along
with a delegation of YWCA representative from around the world, are in Mexico
attending the XVII International AIDS Conference where they will advocate for
solutions to the challenges women and girls face in the context of HIV and
AIDS.
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