WORLD AIDS DAY 2006 - HIV Positive Women Call for Action

Submitted by ICW on 30 November, 2006 - 17:27.
::

More women are infected with HIV….


"Millions of girls are dying on our watch. The escalating rates of HIV positive girls and young women present the world with a critical moral dilemma and responsibility that demands increased leadership and that employs as little rhetoric as possible. What we need now is practical organization and action." (Mary Robinson, ICW Patron)

 

UNAIDS statistics on current HIV trends show that in many parts of the world women are more likely to be living with HIV than men. In nearly all countries of the world the number of HIV positive women continues to grow with over one million new infections among women since 2004. (UNAIDS 2006)

“Since 1992 ICW has highlighted HIV’s link to women’s inequality worldwide. On World AIDS Day 2006, ICW is insisting again that HIV cannot be separated from the gender inequalities which exist around the world.” (Fiona Pettitt, ICW Interim International Network Manager)

Women, and especially young women, are particularly vulnerable to HIV because they are:

· vulnerable to violence and sexual abuse

· less able to negotiate safe sexual practices

· physically more exposed than men to contracting HIV through unsafe sex.

As women we are specifically susceptible to HIV infection. If we become HIV positive harsh stigma and discrimination come into play because of our status as women and because we are living with the virus. We carry a double burden of being HIV positive and women!

 

‘When I was diagnosed I had a partner. The relationship became more violent – he said I brought a new problem into the family. He says “you have AIDS anyhow so you can’t compete with me”’. (ICW member from South Africa)

On World AIDS Day 2006 we women living with HIV declare that:

  • Silence and ignorance around sex, relationships, gender stereotypes, condoms and domestic violence help the spread of HIV.
  • Good, effective sex education enables young women and men to talk openly and to negotiate mutually safe and pleasurable sex. This is essential to protect young people from HIV infection and equally to ensure that those who are HIV positive are able to have fulfilling safe sex if they choose.
  • A fundamental shift in any attitudes and practices that disempower women is necessary to ensure that all women, whether HIV positive or negative, are able to maintain and protect their sexual health.

If you are living with HIV you are not alone! More and more positive women are joining together locally and globally to fight for our human rights, for the services and policies we want, and for an end to any of the stigma and discrimination we face. Join us and become a member of ICW. Together we are strong.

The International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW) is the only international network of HIV positive women with over 4000 members worldwide. For more information contact Emma Bell - emma@icw.org or tel: +44 (0) 2077040606, www.icw.org.