Shoes, Ships, and Sealing Wax

World AIDS Day 2004...continued

World AIDS Day 2004: The "Have you heard me today?" campaign from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS.

The World AIDS Day page from the National AIDS Trust in the United Kingdom.

The Australian government's World AIDS Day campaign.

The U.S Health and Human Services World AIDS Day page (and events around the U.S.)

The focus this year is on women and girls. From the AIDS Epidemic Update 2004 from UNAIDS:

The AIDS epidemic is affecting women and girls in increasing numbers. Globally, just under half of all people living with HIV are female. In most regions, an increasing proportion of people living with HIV are women and girls, and that proportion is continuing to grow, particularly in Eastern Europe, Asia and Latin America.

Women and girls make up almost 57% of adults living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa. Overall, three quarters of all women with HIV worldwide live in that region. According to recent population-based household surveys, adult women in sub-Saharan Africa are up to 1.3 times more likely to be infected with HIV than their male counterparts (UNAIDS, 2004). This unevenness is greatest among young women aged 15–24 years, who are about three times more likely to be infected than young men of the same age.

And in the U.S.:

However, heterosexual intercourse accounts for most HIV diagnoses among women, and there are strong indications that the main risk factor for many women acquiring HIV is the often-undisclosed risk behaviour of their male partners. Recent research in a low-income area of New York City, for example, has shown that women were more than twice as likely to be infected by a husband or steady boyfriend than by casual sex partners.

And more disturbing than big numbers (from this WHO press release):

Violence against women is widespread: estimates suggest that between one in three and one in five women globally have been physically and sexually assaulted by intimate partners in their lifetime. Studies from Rwanda, South Africa and the United Republic of Tanzania show up to three-fold increases in risk of HIV among women who have experienced violence compared to those who have not. Studies also suggest that for many young women, the first sexual encounter is coerced or unwanted. The risk of HIV transmission increases when sex is forced, especially for girls and young women because their vaginal tracts are immature and tear easily.

"Violence against women can not be tolerated at any level," said Dr Peter Piot, UNAIDS Executive Director. "The fear of violence prevents many women from accessing HIV information, from getting testing and seeking treatment. If we want to get ahead of the epidemic we must put women at the heart of the AIDS response."

Violence against women and girls in its different forms increases women's vulnerability to HIV infection and undermines AIDS control efforts. For millions of women, violence and the fear of violence is a daily reality and increasingly, so is AIDS. Women in every culture around the world face violence, most often at the hands of their partners and within the so-called safety of their homes and families.

In the face of all this, what can one person do?

Well, with what you have, in the time you have, in the place you are, you can...

...know your HIV status and encourage others to get tested.

...support HIV/AIDS education and service organizations.

...click on one of those links above and be aware of what's going on in the world.

Posted by Nic at December 1, 2004 01:00 AM