By Emma Kakololo
WINDHOEK
An international women’s summit held in Kenya recently has identified ten critical areas for change in the fight against the HIV and AIDS epidemic.
The meeting, which was hosted by the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), was the first-ever global conference on women and HIV/AIDS, and was aimed at mustering urgent responses to escalating infection rates.
The conference took place July 4-7 and garnered over 1 500 women, including AIDS advocates, celebrities, community health workers, global leaders and policy-makers.
The ten critical areas of concern included, amongst others, developing the leadership of women and girls to respond to HIV and AIDS; ensuring the meaningful involvement of women infected and affected by HIV in relevant decision-making; advocating for increased resources to support the capacity of women to lead change on HIV; ensuring the physical, sexual and psychological safety and security of women and girls and an end to violence in all aspects of their lives; and expanding access to services for women infected and affected by HIV.
One of the participants, Caroline Thomas, a Senior Programme Officer at the Women’s Leadership Centre in Windhoek, said that finally the entire world was paying attention to the ‘feminization’ of the HIV and AIDS pandemic.
Thomas said the stories related at the summit reminded her once again that the pandemic was having a ‘face’ of a woman or a girl.
“We see its face in the little girl taking care of her dying mom, the adolescent who gets beaten up or raped by her boyfriend when she wants to negotiate safer sex, the married woman who gets infected with HIV despite staying faithful to her husband her entire adult life, and the grandmother who is looking after the children of her deceased children yet still finds the time to do home-based care in her community,” she said.
Thomas said the meeting noted that the current prevention options for women were simply not enough.
“Women need female-initiated and -controlled prevention methods to protect themselves.
“So far, the female condom is the closest to such an option. However, despite its considerable benefits, the high cost and unavailability of these condoms keep women unable to protect themselves.”
Thomas said the meeting so eloquently demonstrated the powerful role women and girls could play to fight the spread of HIV.
“We, the women, are saying we have to have our meaningful space at the decision- making table and our voices heard, and we have to have our space at the table of resources,” said Thomas.
“We are asking: if the HIV and AIDS pandemic has the face of a woman, where is the funding for organizations that work to promote women’s human rights?” she said, adding that there was a need to address gender inequality.
“We all – men and women – must say no to cultural practices that put girls and women at risk of HIV and AIDS! We must say no to initiation practices that make girls vulnerable! We must say no to wife inheritance and widow cleansing! We must say no to the domination of women by men,” Thomas stressed.