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Empower women and girls to stay HIV-negative
World YWCA
August 28, 2008
http://www.worldywca.info/index.php/ywca/women_s_news/articles/empower_women_and_girls_to_stay_hiv_negative
Over three billion
women worldwide are HIV-negative. They have the right to stay negative.
Globally half
of the people living with HIV and AIDS are female. Biologically,
women are more likely than men to acquire HIV. Gender inequalities
and human rights violations heighten girls' and women's vulnerability.
Investing in comprehensive HIV prevention for women and girls is
also an investment in the health and well-being of boys and men
and of communities.
For everyone,
safer sex requires:
- Respect for
the mutual consent of partners and their right to say no
- Zero coercion
and violence
- Access to
female and male condoms and information on using them and
- Knowledge
of one's own and one's partner's sexual health, including HIV
status.
- Provide Sexuality
Education to all Young people
Comprehensive
sexuality education in schools, beginning in the primary grades,
provides young people with HIV prevention information and skills
and supports them to:
- Build equality
in relationships and in society
- Respect
individuals' rights to consent to or refuse sex and marriage
- Practice
safer sex and end sexual coercion and violence and
- Accept diversity
of sexual orientation and HIV status.
- Encourage
HIV Counselling, Testing, and Treatment
Knowing one's
own and one's partner(s)' HIV status is an essential step towards
preventing HIV infections. All individuals and, when desired, couples
should have access to confidential HIV counseling and testing as
well as treatment. Testing should be based on informed consent.
Individuals should be supported in disclosing their HIV status,
and all segments of society and institutions should eliminate stigma
and discrimination based on HIV status.
Put the power of prevention in women's hands
Only one female
condom is distributed for every 700 male condoms. Additional programmatic
and budgetary investments are needed to distribute female condoms
much more widely and to teach women how to use both male and female
condoms. Research on new methods of woman-initiated prevention,
such as microbicides, and monitoring the impact of prevention approaches,
such as adult male circumcision, must continue. Further research
is needed on how to support couples' rights to have children when
one partner is HIV-positive.
Invest in sexual and reproductive health services
New infections
in women and young people are growing rapidly, primarily through
heterosexual sex. These two groups can be most effectively reached
through comprehensive reproductive health services (contraception,
pregnancy and delivery care, and screening and treatment of sexually
transmitted infections). HIV-earmarked funds should be invested
to expand access to these services and enhance the provision of
HIV counseling and testing; treatment, care, and support; and referral.
In addition, services should build capacity to:
- Teach women
and couples how to minimize the risk of HIV infection when trying
to get pregnant;
- Screen for
violence against women and provide care, including post-exposure
prophylaxis and
- Provide
reproductive health services to women living with HIV.
HIV
prevention requires protection of women's human rights
- End violence
against women and girls.
- End stigma
and discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS.
- Promote women's
equality. Women should have rights to own and inherit property;
equal opportunity in employment, education, and politics; and
full equality under the law.
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