27 November 2007

‘Walk the talk’ on women’s rights and HIV and Aids

New report urges the UK Government to put women at the heart of its global HIV and Aids strategy

Embargoed until 01.12.07: Women and girls in the developing world are disproportionately vulnerable to HIV and Aids because they face systemic and persistent discrimination, claims a new report from ActionAid and VSO. The report calls on the UK Government to put women at the heart of its new HIV and Aids strategy, due out in early 2008.

‘Walking the talk: Putting women's rights at the heart of the HIV and Aids response’ argues that governments and international donors too often ignore the vital steps needed to turn the tide for women in the fight against HIV and Aids. In sub-Saharan Africa the crisis is acute. Women make up 60% of all those living with HIV and Aids, while young women are three times more likely to become infected than their male peers.

Legal and economic inequalities and limited access to health and education services only deepen the crisis. Prevention methods frequently ignore the violence and lack of control many women experience around sex. Culturally, women face significant barriers in getting support if HIV positive, while the burden they bear as care-providers often leaves them in poverty.

Carmen Sepulveda-Zelaya, ActionAid policy officer, and co-author of the report said that the feminisation of the HIV and Aids pandemic is damning proof of the failure by governments to deliver on their commitments. “For too long, donors and governments in the developing world have failed to confront the discrimination that increases women’s vulnerability to HIV and Aids.

“Until practical steps are taken to tackle rife gender inequality, HIV and Aids will continue to devastate the developing world and claim thousands of lives. Action is now long overdue.”

Nina O’Farrell, VSO senior policy advisor and co-author of the report said that women’s rights must be championed if the target of ‘universal access to prevention, treatment, care and support by 2010’ for those infected and affected by HIV and Aids is to be achieved.

Calling on governments and donors to commit to a female-friendly response she said: “Moving from recognition of the feminisation of HIV and AIDS to action is a major challenge. To date this challenge has been met by devastating inaction. The time has come to walk the talk on women’s rights. The solution to this problem is not rocket science but it does require leadership, political commitment and resources.

“Women can not be treated as passive victims in the response against HIV and Aids but must be acknowledged as rights holders, activists and vital agents of change.”
Donors continue to fund prevention programmes that do not reflect the realities faced by women. Some disproportionately focus on abstinence and fidelity, which fails to recognise that some married women lack the power to make their husbands use condoms and reinforces stigma and discrimination for those living with HIV.

Too little money is spent on the development of female-centred prevention methods such as microbicides and female condoms. Research shows that 2.5 million HIV infections might be prevented if just 20% of women in poorer countries could regularly use a microbicide.

Even though women are slightly more likely than men to receive Aids drugs, they are less likely to continue taking them. Many sacrifice medicines to their partners whilst others fear stigma, violence and abandonment if drugs are found. Often, they also do not have access to the right diet needed to enable the drugs to work properly, particularly in poor rural areas.

Failing health systems mean women overwhelmingly shoulder the burden of providing care and support to people living with HIV and Aids in their families and communities. Girls frequently drop out of school to care for sick parents, whilst women lose employment opportunities and carry the huge psychological and financial burden of caring for the sick and dying without training, recognition or financial support.

The report calls for donors to increase support and funding for care and support services to relieve this unsustainable burden on women and girls.

ENDS

For further information contact:
ActionAid: Asha Tharoor on 020 7561 7614 or 07912 387396
VSO: Abigail Fulbrook 020 8780 7410 or 077 906 28733

Notes to Editors

1. There will be a speaker event on Thursday 29th November at Westminster Central Hall, London. Speakers are: Lihle Dlamini of the Treatment Action Campaign in South Africa and Indian HIV&AIDS activist Kousalya Periasamy, along with International Development Minister Shahid Malik and Noerine Kaleeba, former adviser to UNAIDS.
2. Walking the talk: Putting women's rights at the heart of the HIV and Aids response’ is a joint report by VSO & ActionAid. The report is based on research carried out in 13 countries from May to August this year. Copies of the report are available from www.vso.org.uk or www.actionaid.org.uk
3. UNAIDS Figures 2007 www.unaids.org 
4. To join ActionAid and VSO’s campaign and to show your support for women and girls across the developing world this World Aids Day visit www.vso.org.uk/womenmatter or www.actionaid/invisiblewomen.org