This speech was delivered by Jan Beagle, UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director on July 25, 2013 as the keynote address to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). In it, she calls for "broad partnerships" and for CEDAW to "continue advocating for legal and social environments that not only promote access to services, but also protect women from discrimination, criminalization and violence."
'Positive and Pregnant: How Dare You is a study on the access to reproductive and maternal health care for women living with HIV in Asia. Undertaken by the Women of the Asia Pacific Network of People, it contains findings from six countries in the Asia Pacific region: Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Nepal, and Vietnam. The objective of the study was to assess the experience of accessing reproductive and maternal health services as…
The Gender assessment tool for national HIV responses is intended to assist countries assess their HIV epidemic, context and response from a gender perspective, helping them to make their HIV responses gender transformative and more effective. The Tool is specifically designed to support the development or review of national strategic plans (NSP) and to inform submissions to both country investment cases and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS,…
In this article, women living with HIV in the Unites States summarize the substantial deficits that exist with regard to woman-focused HIV prevention efforts nationally and the policy and practice changes needed to reduce the domestic impact of the HIV epidemic on women and girls. They also outline opportunities for movement in this direction as implementation of the US National HIV/AIDS Strategy proceeds.
The purpose of this Women's Workshop Curriculum is to support a sustainable HIV response in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region, centered on positive leadership, women's leadership, prevention, education, and mentorship, as well as gender equity and sensitivity. It is the first curriculum of its kind to be implemented by and for women living with HIV in the MENA Region. The authors of the curriculum include women living with HIV in…
This paper is based on UNESCO's July 2013 workshop in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania to address the linkages between gender-based violence and HIV/AIDS in the Great Lakes region, with particular attention to situations of conflict and post-conflict. It aims to provide concrete policy recommendations for integrating national responses to both pandemics. It includes reference to five country based reports that had been undertaken with the aim of…
The paper focuses in particular on southern and eastern Africa, where prevalence rates of HIV AIDs are highest and where concerted efforts are being made to address young women in terms of prevention. It also looks more particularly at the role of microfinance, as this is often the only potential source of income for poor young women and adolescent girls. Vocational training is also reviewed. The impact of formal employment or paid work in the…
This Checklist supports the integration of gender-responsive components into the implementation of HIV programmes supported by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (the Global Fund), as their new funding model (NFM) is rolled out. The Checklist provides specific steps and examples to ensure that the gender dimensions of HIV are addressed in all phases of programming – from country dialogues, through proposal drafting to monitoring and…
Structural factors such as poor education, poverty, and gender and power inequalities are important determinants of young women's vulnerability to HIV infection. In The Lancet, Sarah Baird and colleagues report the results of a randomised controlled trial done with adolescent girls in rural Malawi, examining the effects of a cash transfer programme on risk of HIV infection. The investigators report that schoolgirls who received monthly cash…
This statement aims to contribute to the elimination of forced, coercive and otherwise involuntary sterilization. It reaffirms that sterilization as a method of contraception and family planning should be available, accessible, acceptable, of good quality, and free from discrimination, coercion and violence, and that laws, regulations, policies and practices should ensure that the provision of procedures resulting in sterilization is based on…
This Report documents the results of a community-based research project on how grassroots women in Africa address key development challenges using innovative approaches for achieving justice in relation to land disputes and gender-based violence brought about by disinheritance and gender discrimination. The Report documents the main strategies that grassroots women's groups are using to help women attain justice, either by working within or…
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 Report is based on the findings from case studies conducted by AIDSTAR-One in three countries where gender-based violence (GBV) services were available: Swaziland, Vietnam, and Ecuador. These case studies were developed to help program managers design, plan, and implement strategies to integrate GBV within existing HIV, family planning, and reproductive health services and programs. The Report shares promising programmatic approaches and…
This Overview Report analyses why and how HIV/AIDS is now disproportionately affecting women. It explores new gender-sensitive approaches to fighting HIV/AIDS and suggests that in order to be effective, it is necessary to deal with the inequalities that both drive and are entrenched by the epidemic. It specifically addresses stigma and the need to transform gender relations.
This paper argues that sexual, and male violent, practices are rooted in and flow from cultural ideals of gender identities. The latter enables us to understand why men and women behave as they do, and the emotional and material context within which sexual behaviours are enacted. In South Africa, while gender identities show diversity, the dominant ideal of black African manhood emphasizes toughness, strength and expression of prodigious…
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.
The International Men and Gender Equality Survey (IMAGES), created and coordinated by Promundo and the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), is one of the most comprehensive studies ever on men's practices and attitudes as they relate to gender norms, attitudes toward gender equality policies, household dynamics including caregiving and men's involvement as fathers, intimate partner violence, health and economic stress. The data…
This paper examines how the GBV initiative is being introduced in Tanzania, one of the GBV focus countries, based on interviews in Tanzania in April 2012 with U.S. government officials, nongovernmental organizations, and implementing partners, as well as interviews in Washington, D.C. It describes the importance of this initiative for the work of PEPFAR and the Global Health Initiative (GHI), impediments to progress, why this program has the…
The rapid assessment elicited basic gender and cultural perceptions and beliefs related to HIV, to people living with HIV in general and to women, in particular that posed barriers to the uptake of and adherence to HIV services. The findings revealed, across all sites, substantive gaps in comprehensive HIV knowledge, with cultural perceptions and beliefs about HIV and gender roles often acting as effective deterrents to service access. Women…
This article is based on a systematic review of gender-transformative HIV and violence prevention programs with heterosexually-active men in order to assess the efficacy of this programming. The authors find that gender-transformative interventions can increase protective sexual behaviors, prevent partner violence, modify inequitable attitudes, and reduce STI/HIV, though further trials are warranted, particularly in establishing STI/HIV…