FOUND 627
Data from a cluster randomized trial was used to assess the effects of an intervention using group-based micro-financing along with gender and HIV training to reduce HIV risk behavior and Intimate Partner Violence. The evaluation, based in rural South Africa, comments on the ability of women to engage in more empowered HIV risk reducing practices after participating in the program.   
This brief highlights why it is important for girls to stay in school, and how poor educational status is highly correlated with HIV infection. A range of interventions to address this issue are given, as well as key questions to consider when advocating for girls’ rights to education. This article can be accessed on-line here.
This pamphlet outlines a series of steps and processes for country-level stakeholders to accelerate and expand action on gender equality in order to strengthen national responses to AIDS. The Essential Actions pamphlet is drawn from the document Gender Guidance for National AIDS Responses, presented to the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board in April 2008.
This paper provides an overview of research conducted in 2007-08 into the interactions between gender relations, HIV and AIDS and food security in war-affected communities in Northern Uganda. It first reviews the policy and legal context associated with these issues; and then outlines key findings and lists policy recommendations.
This paper explores how programmes such as microfinance, livelihood training and efforts to safeguard women's food security and access to property have begun to incorporate an HIV prevention focus. Despite numerous calls to 'mainstream AIDS’ in economic development, cross-sectoral responses have not been widely taken up by government or other stakeholders. The authors suggest potential reasons for limited progress to date and conclude by…
This briefing paper discusses the many challenges of food insecurity in the context of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and gender equality. The report covers various topics that pertain particularly to women living with HIV or affected by HIV; these include: barriers to women's farming, women's land rights, economic and social empowerment, violence against women, inheritance rights and property grabbing, politics, ideologies and vested interests.
The report draws on data from an innovative six-country research study conducted by UNDP together with Oxford University researchers and local social research institutes and organisations of people living with HIV that looked at exclusion in the health, education and employment sectors from the point of view of people living with HIV. The report also consults the views of people representing institutions in three key sectors that, where not…
This report highlights the critical importance of ensuring that gender equality and women’s empowerment are central to the aid effectiveness agenda and attempts to identify the extent to which HIV funding is contributing to an environment that supports gender equality and promotes women’s rights. It includes an assessment of the effectiveness of current aid flows in combating inequality and violations of women’s rights that have contributed the…
This paper provides an analysis of the gender policies and an update on the current state of gender programming and funding at the three financing institutions. By examining the way that gender concerns are being addressed, the paper highlights policy and programmatic trends related to gender that should be taken into account by the UNAIDS Secretariat’s gender strategy. The paper concludes with recommendations for UNAIDS and partners to more…
This fact sheet reviews women's vulnerability to HIV/AIDS, focusing particularly on young women. Many women and young people do not have access to the information and services they need to protect themselves from HIV infection. Women's vulnerability is increased by marriage, sex work, injecting drug use, being the partner of an injecting drug user, a student, and violent or coercive sex.
A brief describes the linkages between young age, sexual violence, and HIV/AIDS and describes policy and program responses.  
This research article describes an evaluation of adolescent school girls' knowledge, perceptions and attitudes towards STIs/HIV and safer sex practice and sex education and explores their current sexual behaviour in India.
This research article describes the results of a community-based cross-sectional study conducted among brothel-based sex workers of West Bengal, eastern India, to understand sex-trafficking, violence, negotiating skills, and HIV infection in them. The study highlights that the trafficked victims faced violence, including sexual violence, to a greater magnitude, and that sexual violence was associated with acquiring HIV.
This literature and program review focused on the current and future role of microfinance and sustainable livelihood strategies in reducing adolescent girls' vulnerability to HIV infection in developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Part 1 of the review focuses on youth-centered programs to prevent HIV infection among vulnerable female adolescents--including microfinance and sustainable livelihood programs. Part 2 analyzes…
This speech by Ines Alberdi, Executive Director of UNIFEM, was made at the High-Level Meeting on AIDS, UN General Assembly, Panel Discussion 3. Speaking on behalf of the UN, Executive Director Ines Alberdi said that “it is vitally important to address the links between HIV and AIDS and violence against women and girls ... both a cause and a consequence of HIV among women of all ages, but especially young women and girls.”
This briefing paper takes an in-depth look at the standards developed by six UN "treaty monitoring bodies," or committees, in the area of HIV/AIDS and other STIs. Following a brief overview of the origin and work of the committees, this paper reviews standards each body has adopted as it has monitored governments' compliance with their duties under international human rights law, including references to gender. In repeated statements, these…
By analyzing the economic, socio-cultural, and political factors that influence the HIV vulnerability of migrant workers - especially female migrant workers - the study aims to aid the design of appropriate rights-based HIV prevention programmes. It also is intended to identify emerging challenges and trends in the response to HIV and migration issues in host countries, particularly in the area of human rights and public health.
Central Asia has one of the most rapidly increasing HIV prevalence in the world. This research article describes the results of a study to assess current knowledge, risk behaviour and attitudes to voluntary counselling and testing concerning HIV/AIDS among pregnant women in Semey, Kazakhstan. The study concluded that pregnant women in Semey have poor knowledge about specific mother-to-child HIV transmission and do not know about the means…
This article examines the association between the number of sexual partners and the risk of HIV seropositivity among men and women presenting for HIV voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) in northern Tanzania. Among women presenting for VCT, the number of partners is strongly associated with rates of seropositivity; however, even women reporting lifetime monogamy have a high risk for HIV infection. Partner reduction should be coupled with…
The 8-page briefing paper aims to introduce readers to the key issues regarding gender inequalities and the different impacts of HIV and AIDS on women, men, girls and boys.