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On 10 June, representatives of the United Nations, Member States, young women’s movements and civil society laid out strategic pathways for advancing gender justice and women’s rights and agency at a thematic panel, Advancing Gender Equality and Empowering Women and Girls in the AIDS Response, held during the United Nations High-Level Meeting on AIDS.

Global Citizen spoke to five members of the Generation Equality Forum Youth Task Force about what they hope to bring to the Generation Equality Forum, the gender equality issues they care about most, and how they would like to see young people stand up to achieve gender equality in our lifetime.  Read the full article here .

Jointly led by UNAIDS, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNICEF, UN Women, the ‘Education Plus’ initiative is a high-profile, high-level political advocacy drive to accelerate actions and investments to prevent HIV, centred on the empowerment of adolescent girls and young women and the achievement of gender equality in sub-Saharan Africa—with secondary education as the strategic entry point. Read the full article here .

According to findings released through the latest 2020 survey by the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), around 55,000 women and girls between 15 and 24 years get infected with HIV/AIDS globally every week. The UNAIDS data reveals that more than one third (35 per cent) of women around the world get infected with HIV/AIDS as a result of experiencing physical and sexual violence by an intimate partner or a non-partner at some point in...

Four decades after the first cases of AIDS were reported, new data from UNAIDS show that dozens of countries achieved or exceed the 2020 targets set by the United Nations General Assembly in 2016—evidence that the targets were not just aspirational but achievable. Young women in sub-Saharan Africa, however, continue to be left behind. Six out of seven new HIV infections among adolescents aged 15–19 years in the region are among girls....

Forty years since the first AIDS cases were reported and just weeks before the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on AIDS, the United Nations Secretary-General has released a new report with recommendations and targets to get the world back on track to end AIDS. Read the full article here .

Statement: Rebuilding better together to end AIDS for women and girls Statement by UN Women on World AIDS Day, 1 December Date: Tuesday, December 1, 2020 On this World AIDS Day we have good news to reflect on: according to the UNAIDS Global AIDS Update more women are on life-saving treatment than ever; and there has been steady progress, though still fragile, in reducing new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths among women in several...

Coronavirus lockdowns have hindered the fight against HIV infection in women and girls globally by limiting their access to education and protection from sexual violence. Governments' focus on tackling the pandemic has also shifted attention and resources away from protecting vulnerable populations from HIV, according to a study by the Joint United Nations Program on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS).

Women who have been medical (and political) subjects of HIV/AIDS also have much to teach us during our current pandemic. Historically, women have been at the forefront of fighting to keep communities and families healthy.

As we celebrated International Women’s Day and applauded the many successes that women have,   and continue to achieve globally, we are also reminded of the many challenges that remain. HIV/AIDS   continues to be one such challenge.

The Department of Health will investigate allegations that women living with HIV were coerced to undergo involuntary sterilisation. Last month, the Commission for Gender Equality released a report on the practice after an investigation that was prompted by a complaint it received in 2015.

Between 1995 and 2018, the steepest decrease in new HIV infections among women occurred among adolescent girls and young women (aged 15 to 24 years)—a decline of 44% globally.

The HIV/Aids epidemic has always been far more than a health issue. The virus thrives on inequality, insecurity, stigma and discrimination, marginalisation, criminalisation and exclusion.

As the world commemorates 2020 International Women’s Day (IWD), AIDS Health Care Foundation (AHF), a Non-Governmental Organisation, has called for the elimination of Mother-To-Child Transmission (MTCT) of HIV and AIDS in Nigeria.

The bad news about HIV, as Winnie Byanyima sums up plainly, is that it “sits on top of socio-economic injustices”. The UNAIDS Executive Director was speaking at the launch of the report “We’ve Got The Power – women, adolescent girls and the HIV response”.

For many young women and girls, making safe and informed choices, which could limit their exposure to HIV, is no simple task. A young woman in poverty may be forced to exchange sex for favours, or to accept a marriage proposal from an older man.

Gender discrimination and violence, gaps in education and lack of economic empowerment and protection of sexual and reproductive health and rights are blocking progress.

Gloria Nawanyaga says being discriminated for living with HIV is much worse than the disease itself. “I have suffered discrimination and I know that it can be more lethal than the virus.”

People who use drugs are often highly stigmatized and face high levels of discrimination. Women who use drugs, however, are doubly stigmatized and discriminated against—because of their drug use and because of their gender.

Women need men to be more interested in learning their HIV status. Research has also shown that women take their antiretroviral medication in a timely manner.