L to R: United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador, Annie Lennox and UNAIDS Executive Director, Michel Sidibé. 07 June 2010. Credit: UNAIDS/S.Johnson

With maternal and reproductive health as a global priority, a three-day conference, Women Deliver 2010, has kicked off in Washington DC under the theme "Invest in women. It pays." The event’s main focus is to highlight that the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) will not be achieved without investing in women and that there is just enough time, if the world commits funding now, to achieve the MDG’s fifth goal of improving maternal health.

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé and newly appointed UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador Annie Lennox gave the welcome address and opening plenary on the first day of the conference.

“If we integrate HIV into maternal health programmes, we can make huge progress on almost every global development goal. We can stop mothers from dying of HIV and dramatically reduce maternal mortality. Let’s join together,” said Mr Sidibé.

Ms Lennox, who spoke on the topic Women Need a World that Delivers added, "I believe that the AIDS response is an excellent entry-point to better invest in women and girls at all levels, and to advance women's sexual and reproductive rights. We need to empower women and girls so that they can better protect themselves and take control of their own sexual and reproductive health."

About 16 million women over the age of 15 are living with HIV worldwide and in sub-Saharan Africa, women make up almost two-thirds of people living with HIV. In many parts of the world, women have a higher risk of HIV than men.

In cultures where gender inequality persists, women are likely to face barriers in accessing HIV, maternal and reproductive health services due to limited decision-making power, lack of control over financial resources, restricted mobility and child-care responsibilities.

A recent study published in the medical journal The Lancet projects that globally HIV has increased maternal mortality by 20%. While maternal mortality has been on the decline globally, it has been on the rise in many sub-Saharan Africa countries, because of HIV. In South Africa, it is estimated that more than 50% of all maternal deaths can be attributed to HIV.

Considerable progress, however, has been made on the treatment front. Over the years, more women have been able to access HIV treatment services. This is primarily due to the fact that more women are accessing antenatal services to prevent HIV transmission to their infants, and more women are coming forward for HIV counselling and testing.

Former President of Chile Michelle Bachelet (left) meets with UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé during Women Deliver 2010 conference in Washington D.C. Credit: Sylvia Johnson

With over 2,000 participants from 115 countries, including 100 government officials from more than 30 countries, the conference was also the platform to announce the initiation of the first trial among women in Africa testing a vaginal ring containing an antiretroviral drug that could one day be used to prevent HIV transmission during sex.

The technology, if successfully tested, would give women around the world a tool to protect themselves from HIV infection. The trial has been initiated by non-profit International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM).

Speaking on the trial, Mr Sidibe said, "Preventing HIV transmission is essential if we are to win the battle in the long-term and protect the health and safety of future generations. If successful, innovations, like microbicides, could have an extraordinary impact.”

The conference, which ends on 9 June 2010, includes over 300 speakers in 118 separate sessions over three days. Topics included “Modern Contraception Comes of Age”, “Strategies to Address Sexually Transmitted Infections” and “Girls Speak: Exploring the Girl Effect”.

UN to support civil society and governments to address gender inequalities and human rights violations that continue to put women and girls at risk of HIV infection

Credit: UNAIDS

New York/Geneva, 2 March 2010 – UNAIDS, together with celebrated artist and activist for women and HIV, Annie Lennox, has launched an Agenda for Accelerated Country Action for Women, Girls, Gender Equality and HIV (2010–2014), which has been developed to address gender inequalities and human rights violations that continue to put women and girls at risk of HIV infection.

The five-year action plan was launched at a high-level panel during the 54th meeting on the Commission on the Status of Women, being held in New York until 12 March. It calls on the UN system to support governments, civil society and development partners in reinforcing country actions to put women and girls at the centre of the AIDS response, ensuring that their rights are protected.

“Violence against women is unacceptable and must not be tolerated,” said Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director. “By robbing them of their dignity, we are losing the opportunity to tap half the potential of mankind to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Women and girls are not victims, they are the driving force that brings about social transformation.”

UNAIDS and partners will support the country roll-out of the Agenda for Action in pathfinder countries, including Liberia.

Annie Lennox underlined her unshakable commitment to the cause of women and girls affected by HIV.

“I believe we need a broad movement for change,” she said. “The bottom-line for me is that, in essence, we are all the same. All human beings, wherever we are, have the basic right to be happy and healthy. I see this Agenda for Action as a great opportunity to bring the realities faced by many women and girls to the forefront and to call attention to the injustices faced by many women and girls, placing them at a bigger risk of HIV.”

As of December 2008, 33.4 million people were living with HIV worldwide, of which 15.7 million ─ almost half ─ were women. The proportion of women infected with HIV has risen in many regions over of the world over the past 10 years. In sub-Saharan Africa, 60% of people living with HIV are women. Nearly 30 years into the HIV epidemic, HIV services do not sufficiently address the specific realities and needs of women and girls.

"The information on sexual and reproductive health for HIV-positive women and girls is still limited,” said Suksma Ratri, a member of Indonesia’s Positive Women’s Network, who participated in today’s launch. “Being sexually active and HIV-positive at the same time is very difficult. Women and girls living with HIV often have restricted options when it comes to their sexuality. They need an adequate and friendly support system that enables them to make free decisions about their sexuality without being discriminated and stigmatised. I think the Agenda for Action will be a good platform for countries to strengthen services for women and girls."

The Agenda for Action provides clear action points on how the UN can work together with governments, civil society and development partners to:

• produce better information on the specific needs of women and girls in the context of HIV;
• turn political commitments into increased resources and actions so HIV programmes can better respond to the needs of women and girls; and
• support leaders to build safer environments in which women’s and girl’s human rights are protected.

The actions include:

• Improving data collection and analysis to better understand how the epidemic affects women and girls.
• Reinforcing the UN Secretary-General’s UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign through the AIDS response.
• Ensuring that violence against women is integrated into HIV prevention, treatment, care and support programmes.
• Analyzing the impact of socio-cultural and economic factors that prevent women and girls from protecting themselves against HIV.
• Supporting women’s groups and networks of women living with HIV to map commitments made by governments on women and HIV.
• Scaling up engagement of men’s and boys’ organizations to support the rights of women and girls.

The launch of the Agenda for Action involved many prominent leaders from the United Nations system, governments and civil society. Speakers included Asha Rose Migiro, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General; Melanne Verveer, US Ambassador at Large for Women’s Global Issues; Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator; and Vabah Gayflor, Liberia’s Minister of Gender and Development.

A version of this story is published at www.unfpa.org

During a high-level panel on the opening day of the 54th Commission on the Status of Women, UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya A. Obaid, speaking on behalf of the United Nations, called attention to the links between the right to sexual and reproductive health and women's empowerment, gender equality and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

Throughout the first two weeks of March, the 54th Commission on the Status of Women will conduct a 15-year review of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. This Platform, which emerged from the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995, reinforced the importance of women's rights and empowerment as established a year earlier in Cairo. It called for action on 12 key issues: poverty, education and training, health, violence against women (one of UNAIDS nine priority areas), armed conflict, economy, power and decision-making, institutional mechanisms, human rights, media, environment and girls.

The commission will emphasise the sharing of best practices as well as discussion of obstacles and gaps, especially those related to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, whose tenth year review will take place in September. The synergy among the three development platforms has been articulated by UNFPA Executive Director in a statement she has issued to mark International Women’s Day 2010 (8 March).

“In 1994, at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), leaders declared for the first time that reproductive health and rights are fundamental to women’s empowerment, gender equality and sustainable development. And fifteen years ago, at the Fourth World Conference on Women, world leaders agreed on a platform for action for equality, development and peace.

“Today many of these agreements are reflected in the Millennium Development Goals to which world leaders have agreed, to reduce poverty and put our world on a more sustainable path…With ideas spreading faster than ever, here is an idea whose time has come: We stand a better chance of solving the world’s problems if men and women join together as equal partners in finding innovative solutions.”

At the commission, UNFPA is participating in several side events on sexual and reproductive health rights, HIV, violence against women, peace and security, the role of men and boys as partners for gender equality, and female migration. The Fund is also releasing a review of its contributions to the Beijing commitments, Beijing at Fifteen: UNFPA and Partners Charting the Way Forward (2010).

Another initiative to promote the idea of gender equality and empowerment of women during 2010 is a special radio/audio series on gender equality and the empowerment of women with a focus on young woman and adolescent girls. The programmes, being produced by UN Radio with support from UNFPA, will explore the challenges facing young adolescent girls, as well as their dreams for the future. Additional activities throughout the year will call attention to the Beijing Platform and its links to the International Conference on Population and Development and the Millennium Development Goals

(from left) Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director; Annie Lennox, artist and political and social activist; Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator. NY, 2 March 2010
Credit: UNAIDS/B. Hamilton

Globally, women and girls continue to be affected disproportionately by HIV. AIDS related illness is the leading cause of death and disease among women of reproductive age (15-49 years) worldwide. In sub-Saharan Africa as a whole, women account for approximately 60% of estimated HIV infections. The proportion of women to men living with HIV in Asia rose from 19% in 2000 to 35% in 2008.

UNAIDS Executive Director Mr Michel Sidibé and artist and political and social activist Annie Lennox launched the Agenda for Accelerated Country Action to bring global political attention to the well-being of women and girls today at the United Nations in New York. Today the 15-year review of the implementation of the Beijing declaration and Platform for Action opened at the Commission of the Status of Women.

Annie Lennox, artist and political and social activist addresses the launch of the action framework for women, girls and HIV. NY, 2 March 2010
Credit: UNAIDS/B. Hamilton

Ending violence against women is one of the key priority areas of UNAIDS. Up to 70% of women experience violence in their lifetime–in South Africa a woman is raped every minute.

The launch, moderated by Mr Sidibé, took the form of a dialogue, involving approximately 300 representatives from governments, civil society, and networks of women living with HIV, and women’s rights advocates and activists.

“The brutality faced by many women and girls goes far beyond social policy issues; in essence it is about equality and justice – it must become a foreign policy issue. This Agenda for Accelerated Country Action for women and girls is a path to open dialogue with leaders of countries on how we shape the world of tomorrow,” Mr Sidibé said when opening the floor for discussions.

Annie Lennox called for a broad movement for change saying that AIDS responses should address the rights of women and girls and must challenge gender roles to successfully stop the AIDS epidemic.

Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator. NY, 2 March 2010
Credit: UNAIDS/B. Hamilton

The Agenda for Accelerated Country Action aims to tie the women’s human rights movement with the global AIDS response and mobilize all constituencies, starting with UNAIDS and the United Nations Development Fund for Women, through increased political commitment, stronger capacity and increased resources.

“We know the facts,” Ms Lennox said, “we know that gender inequality puts millions of women and girls across the globe at greater risk of HIV infection. It is unacceptable that only 38% of young women have accurate, comprehensive knowledge of HIV.”

Mr Sidibé asked Ms Lennox how music and culture can play a role in inspiring positive change in societal practices that currently undermine the health of women and girls and violate their rights.

“I’m using my voice to call on leaders—in political, religious and business spheres—and communities to change the power imbalances between men and women, for a better world,” Ms Lennox replied.

The launch involved approximately 300 representatives from governments, civil society, and networks of women living with HIV, and women’s rights advocates and activists.
Credit: UNAIDS/B. Hamilton

The Agenda for Accelerated Country Action was developed in response to the pressing need to address the persistent gender inequality and human rights violations that affect women and girls specifically. It outlines the need to understand and respond to the particular effects of the HIV epidemic on women and girls and translate political commitments into scaled-up action.

Importantly the Agenda advocates for men to work side by side with women for gender equality, challenging ideals of masculinity that lead to increased risk-taking and sanction violence against women and girls.

The Joint United Nations, which works in countries, will now begin a dialogue with civil society, including networks of women living with HIV and women’s groups, government and development partners to identify opportunities together to step up the response.

A version of this story first appeared at undp.org

United Nations Development Programme Administrator Miss Helen Clark paid a three-day visit to Papua New Guinea to highlight significant opportunities which exist to promote investment in public service delivery, empower women, and advance the country's development agenda.
Credit: UNDP

United Nations Development Programme Administrator Miss Helen Clark highlighted HIV issues during her visit to Papua New Guinea (PNG). In her meetings with senior government and other officials, she underlined that “the United Nations development system stands ready to continue working with the Government and the people of Papua New Guinea in overcoming existing development challenges and accelerating progress towards the Millennium Development Goals, especially in areas such as education, health, advancing women’s empowerment and combating HIV/AIDS epidemic.”

At the UNDP Leadership Development Programme on HIV run by the Friends Foundation in the Gerehu suburb Miss Clark praised the programme for supporting people to back to their communities to find innovative ways to respond to the AIDS epidemic. Programmes include includes supporting orphans and reducing stigma and discrimination. She also met with one of three family sexual violence units at the Boroko police station in Port Mores which assists survivors of gender-based and domestic violence.

Miss Clark launched the Second National MDG Progress Report together with the Minister for National Planning and District Development, Mr Paul Tiensten. As the report highlights, Papua New Guinea is currently off track to meet the Millennium Development Goals, including in areas of responding to HIV, reducing child and maternal mortality, and promoting gender equality.

“The sad truth is that where we see progress towards the MDGs lagging the most is often where the needs and status of women and girls are accorded low priority,” she said.

At the inauguration of the National Women’s Forum on Equality and Participation for Women: a Better Future for Papua New Guinea, which Miss Clark co-chaired with the Minister for Community Development, Dame Carol Kidu, the discussion focused on the need to increase women’s voices and participation in politics as a critical means to promote democracy, advance gender equality, and achieve sustainable and inclusive development.

Women in decision-making has been a critical issue in Papua New Guinea against a backdrop of a high level of gender-based violence coupled with high rates of HIV among women and girls between the ages of 15-29 years. Papua New Guinea currently has only one female Member of Parliament, and efforts are underway to reserve 22 seats for women in Parliament.

“Efforts to promote gender equality, including promoting girls’ education, improving maternal health, combating gender-based violence, and securing female representation in government leadership positions, are of critical importance to advance development in Papua New Guinea,” said Miss Clark. “Unleashing the potential of Papua New Guinea means giving women the same opportunities in life as men,” she said.

Half of all people living with HIV globally are now women and this figure rises to over 60 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa, where young women aged 15-24 can be several times more likely to be HIV-positive than their male counterparts. In order to offer women greater protection against the virus, the World Health Organization (WHO) has designed a hands-on tool to integrate gender into AIDS programmes in the health sector.

The impact of the epidemic on women is exacerbated by a number of factors women can face, including economic dependence on men which may limit their ability to refuse sex or negotiate condom use; their relatively low status, their vulnerability to violence, and lack of access to information and education about HIV. Such inequalities affect women’s experience of HIV, limiting their ability to cope once infected. In 2001 and 2006, the UN General Assembly Declarations of Commitment on AIDS spelled out the need for member states to address gender inequality as a major driver of the epidemic.

Field-tested in five countries (Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Sudan and Tanzania), the new tool helps those planning and implementing AIDS programmes in the health sector to better understand the links between gender inequalities and the virus. It raises awareness of how these inequalities influence women’s access to, uptake of, and experience with such programmes and services in the health sector.

The manual also gives practical suggestions to managers and health care providers, both public and private, on how to integrate gender into HIV programmes, rendering them more responsive to women’s needs. Informing national AIDS strategies, frameworks, guidelines and operational plans the tool can also be used by practitioners in their day to day work.

One AIDS service provider in Lindi, Tanzania believes that use of the tool in training him has been highly beneficial. “I am a role model in the society and my male fellows will be astonished if I bring gender issues as a man. But because I am a role model, I will do it.”

In addition to describing basic steps in gender-responsive programming, the manual suggests concrete actions to address key gender issues in four service delivery areas; HIV testing and counselling; prevention of mother-to-child transmission; treatment and care and, finally, home- based care and support for people living with HIV.

It also offers examples of gender-responsive interventions from the field, and resources such as counselling role plays for risk-reduction and HIV treatment adherence, and protocols for addressing the risk of violence against women as a result of HIV status disclosure. While citing specific examples, WHO suggests that the tool should be adapted to suit the specifics of each national and local environment.

The manual is seen as a work in progress which will be updated and revised as necessary for use by those who, according to WHO, are committed to gender equality and the health and well-being of all.

A version of this story was first published at www.unfpa.org

This portrait of father and son from El Salvador is one of 38 images depicting positive images in the “Influential Men photography exhibit”
Credit: David Isaksson

It should have been one of the happiest nights of their lives. A young soldier and his new wife were alone for the first time on their wedding night. Much to the husband’s surprise, there was no blood after they consummated the marriage. They knew the kind of danger this result could bring if anyone found out. Elder women from the village would want to see the sheets, and if there was no blood, the young bride could be hurt, or even killed, for tarnishing her family’s honour.

But several months earlier, the soldier had participated in a training session on sexual and reproductive health, gender equality and the prevention of gender-based violence. He learned that a woman can be a virgin and not bleed during intercourse, and that there may be more to a woman’s honour than her virginity. The soldier cut his finger and let it bleed onto the sheets to save his wife from danger.

The soldier reported this story to the trainers, and it trickled up to the leadership in the Ministry of Health, the Turkish Armed Forces and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). It has stayed with them as a reminder that just one day of education can change – and perhaps save – a person’s life.

Comprehensive training on reproductive health for the Turkish Armed Forces is one of the programmes described in the new publication, Partnering with men to end gender-based violence
Credit Nezih Tavlas

The training session was part of an ambitious effort to educate every young man in Turkey on the importance of sexual and reproductive health, gender equality and the prevention of gender-based violence. It was organized by UNFPA, in partnership with the Ministry of Health and the Turkish Armed Forces.

With no formal curriculum in schools on sexual health, the training was the first time many soldiers learned how to use a condom or gave thought to gender-based violence. To date, 3 million men have been trained, and the project has been made permanent by a decree from the Turkish Armed Forces. Many of the soldiers say the training changed their beliefs about a woman’s right to make her own choices and to live free from violence.

The story is from one of five case studies featured in a new UNFPA publication, Partnering with Men to End Gender-based Violence: Practices that work from Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Other studies document experience in working with non-governmental organisations in the Ukraine, communities in Armenia, institutions in Romania and police officers in Turkey. The studies provide a step-by-step analysis of how projects to address gender-based violence were carried out and the process through which they were implemented.

“If there is one key lesson to be learned from these case studies, it is the value of partnership between men and women,” says Thea Fierens, UNFPA regional director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia. “It is not women or men working alone to end gender-based violence that yields the best results. Rather, it is the partnerships between them that have the greatest impact and reach. Each case study, in its own way, exemplifies this point, and provides a portal – even if only a small one – into what a world free from violence would look like.”

For UNAIDS stopping violence against women and girls is an issue of major concern and has been highlighted as one of nine priority areas outlined in the UNAIDS Outcome Framework 2009-11.

Alongside the featured publication, UNFPA has commissioned an exhibition of photographs, entitled ‘Influential men’, which highlights the power of positive male role models. It aims to raise awareness of the importance of including and engaging men and boys in creating a world in which every individual is treated with dignity and respect.

Click here to view a photo gallery of the exhibition.

Women living with HIV are more likely to have experienced violence, and women who have experienced violence are more likely to have HIV infection. Credit: UNAIDS/P.Virot

Numerous studies from around the globe confirm the links between violence against women and HIV. These studies show that women living with HIV are more likely to have experienced violence, and that, women who have experienced violence are more likely to have HIV infection.

From 27-29 October the World Health Organization (WHO), on behalf of the UNAIDS family, convened a working group of experts and practitioners to review evidence around the links between violence against women and HIV, as well as programmatic interventions and strategies which address the intersections of violence and HIV. The aim of the meeting was to make policy and programmatic recommendations for national and international AIDS programmes as well as to develop an agenda for future programme development, evaluation and research efforts based on a review of evidence from different interventions.

The meeting was part of UNAIDS efforts to operationalize the Joint Action for Results: the UNAIDS Outcome Framework, which includes violence against women and girls as one of its nine priority areas.

Violence and HIV

According to a 2006 report by United Nations Secretary-General one out of every three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime, usually by someone known to her.

Violence and the threat of violence dramatically increase the vulnerability of women and girls to HIV by making it difficult or impossible for women to abstain from sex, to get their partners to be faithful, or to use a condom. The risk of HIV transmission increases during violent or forced-sex situations as the abrasions caused through forced penetration can facilitate entry of the virus.

Violence, or fear of violence, also makes it difficult for women and girls to disclose their HIV status and access essential HIV prevention, care, and treatment services. Women may also avoid HIV testing due to fears of violence and abandonment in a resulting discovery of HIV-positive status.

As noted by Dr. Claudia Garcia-Moreno, from WHO’s Department of Reproductive Heatlh and Research and Coordinator of the WHO Multi-country Study on women's health and domestic violence, “Violence against women is a fundamental violation of human rights and is often fueled by longstanding social and cultural norms that reinforce its acceptability in society – by both men and women. But there are concrete steps we can take in the AIDS and development responses to address violence, thereby dramatically improving women’s health and quality of life”.

Behaviour and societal change

According to participants at the consultation, policies and programmes addressing gender inequality and gender-based violence will help achieve universal targets to HIV prevention, treatment and care. Investment in responses in these areas is an essential part of HIV programming.

“Long-term interventions which address structural factors, gender inequalities and harmful gender norms, are essential if one is to reduce violence against women and HIV,” said Kristan Schoultz, Director of the Global Coalition on Women and AIDS. “At the same time there is also a need to move forward urgently to achieve shorter-term gains such as enhanced voluntary counselling and testing services and the provision of comprehensive post-rape care that addresses the psychological and physical health needs of sexual violence survivors”.

Participants believe that a “mosaic” of action addressing both long-term and short-term needs related to violence and HIV has the potential to have an impact upon not only MDG 6 (HIV), but all the health MDGs, including reduction of maternal mortality and achievement of sexual and reproductive health and rights; in addition, this approach is at the heart of MDG 3 (gender equality and empowerment of women) and MDG1 (poverty reduction).

The outcomes and recommendations from the meeting will feed into ongoing national and global advocacy efforts such as those of the Global Coalition on Women and AIDS, the UN Secretary General's Campaign for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and the Africa-Wide Campaign for the elimination of Violence against Women. Recommendations will also assist national AIDS authorities to better address the intersections between HIV and violence in national programming.

(from left): UNIFEM Regional Director East and South East Asia, Dr Jean D’Cunha; UNAIDS Director of the Asia Pacific Regional Support Team, Prasada Rao; Executive Director of the ASEAN Foundation, Filemon Uriarthe Jr; and APN+ Regional Coordinator and Director, Shiba Phurailatmam.
Credit: UNAIDS

Studies in Asia indicate that most women in the region acquire HIV because of their partners who engage in unsafe behaviours. It is estimated that more than 90% of women living with HIV acquired the virus from their husbands or boyfriends while in long-term relationships. An effective AIDS response must address intimate partner relationships to prevent HIV infections in the female partners of men with high-risk behaviours.

In an effort to fill this gap in the AIDS response, UNAIDS and the ASEAN Foundation signed an agreement in Bangkok to support work on gender and HIV in the Asia Pacific region.

The partnership began in 2007 when the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and UNAIDS joined hands with the ASEAN Foundation in order to strengthen joint work on the gender aspects of HIV.

In 2008 the partnership expanded to include the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); the Asia Pacific Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (APN+); the Coalition of Asia Pacific Regional Networks on HIV/AIDS, also known as the Seven Sisters, and the International Community of Women with HIV/AIDS (ICW). The partnership at country and regional levels also included researchers, civil society, people living with HIV and national AIDS commissions.

The agreement, which cements this commitment further, was signed in the presence of UNAIDS Director of the Asia Pacific Regional Support Team, Prasada Rao; Executive Director of the ASEAN Foundation, Filemon Uriarthe Jr; UNIFEM Regional Director East and South East Asia, Dr Jean D’Cunha; and APN+ Regional Coordinator and Director, Shiba Phurailatmam.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Rao said, “The project is not only to understand what needs to be done but to pave the way to programmes that work on the ground.” He added that a range of strategies was needed, including scaling up efforts with key populations at risk in urban areas and through reproductive health programmes for rural women.

Dr D’Cunha stressed the importance of working on gender power dynamics, especially for positive women whose voices must be heard. “All the issues are interconnected and cannot be tackled by any one agency,” he said.

Mr Phurailatham stressed the need to approach women who are considered “low-risk” through their “high-risk” partners. He also stated that it was all the more important that laws criminalizing HIV were changed, as "laws that hamper HIV prevention, criminalize those men at risk can only have a negative impact on the lives of those women."

According to the agreement, funding from the ASEAN Foundation will be leveraged to aid the resources provided through UNAIDS, UNIFEM and UNDP.

HIV and Intimate Partner Relationships

In July this year representatives of AIDS commissions, UNICEF, WHO, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and 90 delegates from 15 Asian countries unanimously agreed that intimate partner relationships had to be included in national HIV policies and programmes. A report titled HIV Transmission in Intimate Partner Relationship in Asia was an outcome of this unanimous decision.

The report recommends that HIV prevention interventions be scaled-up for men who have sex with men, injecting drug users and clients of female sex workers. It also suggests that structural interventions should be initiated to identify and address the needs of vulnerable women and their male sexual partners.

(from left) Mr Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS executive director and Brazil’s Minister of Policies for Women Nilcéa Freire at the opening of Engaging Men Symposium, 30 March 2009.
Credit: UNAIDS/D.Ramalho

A global symposium on engaging men and boys in achieving gender equality is taking place this week in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Addressing the opening ceremony last night, UNAIDS Executive Director Mr Michel Sidibé spoke of the need for all to “work over the long term to end the social acceptance of violence against women and the gender inequality that underpins it.”

“We must engage with men and boys to promote awareness of the need for a “new masculinity,” continued Mr Sidibé.

The event was opened by Brazil’s Minister of Policies for Women, Ms Nilcea Freire. Other speakers at opening ceremony included: UNIFEM Executive Director, Ms Inés Alberdi; UNFPA Deputy Executive Director, Ms Purnima Mane; Ambassador of Canada to Brazil, Mr Paul Hunt; World Health Organization Department of Gender, Women and Health, Coordinator, Peju Olukoya; and UNDP Resident Representative and UN Resident Coordinator, Ms Kim Bolduc.

Three over-arching themes of “men and violence”; “men and health”; and “men and care-giving” will be covered during the conference. Yesterday, before opening the symposium, the Executive Director of UNAIDS Michel Sidibé joined the Brazilian Minister of Women’s Policies, Ms Nilcéa Freire, in inaugurating the first centre in Brazil that focuses on rehabilitating men who abuse women. Located in Nova Iguaçu, a municipality in Rio de Janeiro, the centre will place emphasis on education programmes to put a end to domestic violence. Ten other such centres are planned for throughout the country.

Gender and HIV

Gender comprises widely held beliefs, expectations and practices within a society that define ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ attributes, behaviours and roles and responsibilities. Given that gender constructions are relational – one sex defined in contrast to the other, the organizers of the Rio symposium believe that men and women must both be involved in the goal of achieving gender equality. Work with men is seen as a vital component, together with, rather than apart from, work to empower women and girls.

Gender norms in many societies may dictate that women and girls are less equal than men in the home, workplace and in negotiating sex. In some societies concepts about masculinity may reinforce a belief that men should seek multiple sexual partners or take risks. These norms work against HIV prevention messages that support protection measures and fidelity. Some notions of masculinity also condone violence against women, or lead to homophobia, which results in stigmatization of men who have sex with men, making these men more likely to hide their sexual behaviour and less likely to access HIV services.

Violence and HIV

According to a 2006 report by United Nations Secretary-General at least one out of every three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime, with the abuser usually someone known to her.

In the context of HIV, men’s use of physical or sexual violence against women, or the threat of violence increases women’s vulnerability to the disease by making it difficult or impossible to negotiate safer sex and condom use. It can also stop women from accessing HIV prevention, care and treatment services. Women may also avoid HIV testing due to fears of violence and abandonment in a resulting discovery of HIV-positive status.

Moving forward

This week’s Symposium will include dialogue sessions with representatives of the women’s rights movements and other social justice movements. Skills-building workshops to build capacity of participants in designing, implementing and evaluating behaviour change advocacy and community mobilization strategies and also working with young children and teenagers in achieving gender equality.

The participants hope to develop a “Call to Action” for governments to implement policy that engages men and boys in gender equality. Engaging men and boys in achieving gender equality will combine presentations of best practices, skills building workshops, and dialogues between representatives of non-governmental organizations, policymakers, and researchers. It runs until 3 April.