Examination of Witnesses (Question 39)
MS FIONNUALA
MURPHY, DR
STUART KEAN
AND MS
CAROL BRADFORD
28 OCTOBER 2008
Q39 Chairman: Even in the introduction
you have slightly anticipated the first question which is: to
what extent do you think that DFID's approach does actually pay
sufficient attention to the impact of their strategy on the needs
of women and children in terms of HIV/AIDS? You will be aware
that last year we did a report on maternal health which raised
the AIDS dimension so as a Committee we have covered it but we
are anxious to hear from your point of view whether DFID is doing
enough and what more it could do.
Ms Murphy: If you look at achieving
universal access there are a lot of really important first steps
in the strategy in terms of tackling the ways in which women and
girls are affected by HIV and AIDS. ActionAid was really pleased
to see a number of commitments in there and I have just made a
list here. For example, there is a pledge to continue UK leadership
on comprehensive HIV prevention that is evidence-based especially
for vulnerable groups; a commitment to train DFID staff on women's
rights; pledges to take action to stop violence against women
and girls; a recognition of the importance of integrating HIV
with sexual and reproductive health services which reflect the
reality of women's lives; promises to include a gender analysis
in HIV prevention strategies; moves to increase access to contraception
and female-controlled HIV prevention such as female condoms and
microbicides, and to work with other countries to increase access
to those commodities; greater attention to the burden of care
on women and a pledge of £200 million to be spent over the
next eight years on social protection for carers; and broader
pledges to address structural inequalities that keep women poor
and that put women at risk of HIV infection. I am sure Carol will
have a lot more to say about this. I think those are really important
first steps but for us the real challenge is about how these pledges
are going to be implemented because they are very top-line promises
but they are actually talking about very complex cultural and
structural issues, so the real challenge is what action does DFID
propose to take, and how will DFID measure success and make sure
that we have got there and that we have delivered real benefits
for women and girls.
Ms Bradford: I am going to just
speak very briefly. I am here more to talk about the monitoring
and evaluation aspects, but I also represent the International
Partnership for Microbicides which is a product in development
that will help women prevent HIV. DFID as part of its monitoring
has agreed to up its research spend on both microbicides and vaccines,
so these will both be very beneficial to women. Obviously it is
prevention work in the future.
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