Women highlight gender impact on HIV-AIDS struggle
-12/06/06
Gender inequalities are d
Women highlight gender impact on HIV-AIDS struggle
-12/06/06
Gender inequalities are driving the HIV/AIDS pandemic according to activists campaigning for women’s voices to be heard in decision-making about handling the disease, writes Kristine Greenaway for Ecumenical News International.
“Policies ought to be influenced by the realities of the illness,” said Musimbi Kanyoro, a founding member of the Global Coalition on Women and AIDS and general secretary of the World Young Women’s Christian Association. “Women are living with those realities day to day.”
Ms Kanyoro was speaking after a coalition meeting this week in Toronto that developed a plan of action for August’s international AIDS conference to be held in the Canadian city.
Statistics from UNAIDS, the United Nations’ programme on HIV/AIDS, show that more than 17 million women are HIV positive, representing nearly half of those living with the disease worldwide and almost 60 per cent of those with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa.
HIV infection rates among women are on the rise in all regions of the world, including Asia, Eastern Europe and South America.
“We need to get the message about the impact of HIV/AIDS on women and girls around the world. Gender inequalities drive the epidemic,” said Debbie Landey, UNAIDS deputy executive director.
The coalition says women are uniquely vulnerable to contracting HIV due to a lack of power to prevent violence, to access education, to achieve economic self-sufficiency, and to receive information about HIV prevention and legal rights.
In addition, women and girls also face barriers to accessing treatment and bear a disproportionate burden of care for those living with and affected by HIV.
“Women must be heard speaking eloquently about the pandemic becoming feminised,” urged the YWCA’s Kanyoro.
The coalition was launched in 2004 by UNAIDS in response to the growing numbers of women being affected by the pandemic.
Coalition member Yolanda Simon from Trinidad and Tobago said that it was due to women’s advocacy that a UN meeting in New York at the beginning of June underlined the need for specialised resources to support women affected by AIDS.
Simon, the founder of People Living with HIV/AIDS, says the coalition’s support ensured that the voices of women like her are “not only heard, but listened to”.
South American AIDS activist Gracia Violeta Ross underlined the need for action by church leaders.
“Many don’t believe this is an issue for the church yet,” said Ross, a special consultant on AIDS to the Geneva-based World Council of Churches. Her objective, she explains, is to change that perception.
With acknowledgements to ENI. Ecumenical News International is jointly sponsored by the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and the Conference of European Churches.
[Also on Ekklesia: Faith leaders call for decisive action on HIV-AIDS 01/05/06; Prayer service to encourage UN to act on HIV-AIDS 27/05/06; Fulfil global HIV agreement, says Christian Aid 26/05/06; Combat HIV/AIDS ñ church agency says it with flowers; Vatican stance on contraception may be modified; Cardinal calls for reduction in price of AIDS medicines; Priests resist condom use in HIV-hit Tanzania; Unprecedented NHS debt threatens Christian hospital; Churches sign AIDS code; Cameroon Catholic cardinal backs condom use; Churches face up to world AIDS pandemic; The Body of Christ has AIDS, say Methodists]
Women highlight gender impact on HIV-AIDS struggle
-12/06/06
Gender inequalities are driving the HIV/AIDS pandemic according to activists campaigning for women’s voices to be heard in decision-making about handling the disease, writes Kristine Greenaway for Ecumenical News International.
“Policies ought to be influenced by the realities of the illness,” said Musimbi Kanyoro, a founding member of the Global Coalition on Women and AIDS and general secretary of the World Young Women’s Christian Association. “Women are living with those realities day to day.”
Ms Kanyoro was speaking after a coalition meeting this week in Toronto that developed a plan of action for August’s international AIDS conference to be held in the Canadian city.
Statistics from UNAIDS, the United Nations’ programme on HIV/AIDS, show that more than 17 million women are HIV positive, representing nearly half of those living with the disease worldwide and almost 60 per cent of those with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa.
HIV infection rates among women are on the rise in all regions of the world, including Asia, Eastern Europe and South America.
“We need to get the message about the impact of HIV/AIDS on women and girls around the world. Gender inequalities drive the epidemic,” said Debbie Landey, UNAIDS deputy executive director.
The coalition says women are uniquely vulnerable to contracting HIV due to a lack of power to prevent violence, to access education, to achieve economic self-sufficiency, and to receive information about HIV prevention and legal rights.
In addition, women and girls also face barriers to accessing treatment and bear a disproportionate burden of care for those living with and affected by HIV.
“Women must be heard speaking eloquently about the pandemic becoming feminised,” urged the YWCA’s Kanyoro.
The coalition was launched in 2004 by UNAIDS in response to the growing numbers of women being affected by the pandemic.
Coalition member Yolanda Simon from Trinidad and Tobago said that it was due to women’s advocacy that a UN meeting in New York at the beginning of June underlined the need for specialised resources to support women affected by AIDS.
Simon, the founder of People Living with HIV/AIDS, says the coalition’s support ensured that the voices of women like her are “not only heard, but listened to”.
South American AIDS activist Gracia Violeta Ross underlined the need for action by church leaders.
“Many don’t believe this is an issue for the church yet,” said Ross, a special consultant on AIDS to the Geneva-based World Council of Churches. Her objective, she explains, is to change that perception.
With acknowledgements to ENI. Ecumenical News International is jointly sponsored by the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and the Conference of European Churches.
[Also on Ekklesia: Faith leaders call for decisive action on HIV-AIDS 01/05/06; Prayer service to encourage UN to act on HIV-AIDS 27/05/06; Fulfil global HIV agreement, says Christian Aid 26/05/06; Combat HIV/AIDS ñ church agency says it with flowers; Vatican stance on contraception may be modified; Cardinal calls for reduction in price of AIDS medicines; Priests resist condom use in HIV-hit Tanzania; Unprecedented NHS debt threatens Christian hospital; Churches sign AIDS code; Cameroon Catholic cardinal backs condom use; Churches face up to world AIDS pandemic; The Body of Christ has AIDS, say Methodists]