WUNRN
WORLD AIDS DAY--1 December 2008
Message from Ines Alberdi, Executive Director,
UNIFEM
This year marks the 20th
Anniversary of World AIDS Day. Looking
back over the last 20 years, we see there has been progress—there is not only
greater awareness of the gender dimensions of HIV and AIDS but also greater
commitment to addressing these. But today, let us instead look forward, to what
the world could look like 20 years from now, if we are able to deliver on these
commitments. We would then have cause
not just for commemoration but also for celebration.
Imagine a world where every woman who needs
treatment, whether young or old, gets it; where women in all countries are
allowed to inherit equally with men—in practice as well as in law; where women
in all countries are aware about their rights to prevention, treatment and
care, and are empowered to claim these rights; where HIV-positive women are shaping
the policies that affect their lives and making decisions on policy priorities
and budgets.
Imagine a world where every woman, young and
old, lives without fear of violence, stigma or dispossession if they decide to
seek an HIV test, or treatment, or support or information; where public health
systems are fully funded and staffed and household care givers – mothers,
grandmothers, sisters, wives, daughters – can keep their jobs or continue in
school, rather than having to take on the never-ending care-giving tasks for
families and communities.
What does it mean to deliver on our
commitments, so we can realize such a world?
It means ensuring women’s equal access to prevention, treatment and
care, utilizing a range of different outreach strategies, including mobile
health centers and waiver of user fees.
It means supporting women as ‘agents of
change,’ by investing in their leadership to transform agendas and uphold women’s rights. It is essential that
programmes and strategies incorporate the experiences and voices of positive
women – who are living the reality of HIV and AIDS.
It means ensuring accountability and
institutional change, including building
staff capacity in National AIDS councils and incorporating gender expertise in
national AIDS coordinating bodies and establishing codes of conduct among
health care workers; and performance review indicators that take delivery to
women’s needs into account.
Above all it means strong leadership, both
strategic and visible—not only by those in power but by those directly
affected, who must also be empowered to take it. It requires greater investment
in proven strategies so that resources are large enough and deep enough for the
transformation that we know is possible-- in laws, institutions, and social norms.
The HIV/AIDS epidemic has dramatically
underscored the urgent need to ensure that denial of women’s rights is not
tolerated.
So
while we acknowledge the progress that has been made in the last 20 years, and
honour those who have brought it about, including governments, civil society,
and UN and donor partners, we know how much more we need to do to make the
future world possible. We will have made sure that women are no longer
subordinate in society, and their equal rights are secure--to health, education,
economic independence, political participation, self-determination, and
protection from harm, abuse, and violence. We know what needs to be done. We need to lead – empower – and deliver.
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