|
Written evidence submitted by One World Action
"HIV & AIDS is not just a health issue. It is a
gender, development, human rights, and socio-economic issue".
Emily Sikazwe, Executive Director, Women for Change, Zambia
1. With its demographic, social and economic
impact, the HIV/AIDS crisis has become more devastating than war. In many
countries, AIDS has progressed to a full-blown development catastrophe
affecting all sectors of society, rolling back years, and in some cases
decades, of hard-earned development gains.
2. With the spread of HIV/AIDS, the social
networks of many communities are eroding, and the informal social institution
of the extended family is silently breaking down. More and more young girls and
women, wives, mothers are affected by the epidemic, and structures that have
strengthened the stability of the socio-economic fabric are being torn apart.
3. Women lose resources and rights once their
husbands die. Elderly people are left without care and dying alone. Elderly
women are increasingly becoming care providers of orphans and sick family
members when they themselves should be looked after. A new generation of
orphans brought up in poverty will soon give rise to a generation of illiterate
youth.
4. DFID's fight against HIV/AIDS can only be
undertaken successfully when there is a clear focus on women, putting them at
the centre of their strategy and implementation, and ensuring that women take
full control of their own bodies. The strategy needs to fight against gender
imbalances and cultural practices that perpetuate power relations inimical to
women's health. HIV/AIDS in Africa and the
rest of the world is about power and about women's lack of it. Unless DFID
contributes to breaking down these barriers, they will not succeed in fighting
the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
GENDER AND HIV/AIDS
5. Women are
not just another 'vulnerable group', they represent more than 50% of the
population and the gender inequalities that render them more vulnerable to
HIV/AIDS must be addressed if we are to effectively reduce the spread of the
epidemic and prevent more families sinking into poverty.
6. Women are particularly vulnerable to HIV
infection. For example there are six women infected for every five men. This is
often due to the pressure of poverty and the inequalities between men and
women.
7. Men who often control the family income can
spend it on other sex partners since sex is being traded for money. Women, in
particular, are under pressure to exchanging sex for the money they need to
support themselves and their families. For economic and cultural reasons, young
women often have sex with older men who do not reveal their HIV status and
refuse to protect themselves.
8. There are many sexually transmitted infections
(STIs) that go untreated for long periods of time. An untreated STI makes a
person more susceptible to infection with the HIV virus. While this is true for
both men and women, it is easier for men to know that they have an STD. Men
also have better access to health care.
9. In marriage, it is difficult for a woman to
refuse to have sex with her husband, even if she knows that he has other sexual
partners. It is also difficult for a woman to convince her husband to use a
condom if he is having sex with other women. It is even more difficult for a
woman to leave her husband, even if she knows she is in danger of being
infected and cannot get him to change his behaviour.
10. Cultural practices and traditional beliefs
contribute to increased risks of being infected. Men's attitudes and sexual
practices are putting not only themselves, but also their wives and partners at
risk.
11. There are statistics from almost every country
in the world showing that sexual violence against women is at the heart of
women's increased risk of infection. Sexual violence against women by their partners
is rampant. In some countries, the first experience of sex for many girls is
rape. Sexual abuse of teenage girls by a relative or a friend of the family is
common. Commercial sex and rape during times of war, sexual violence in refugee
camps and amongst displaced populations, sexual services and coercion in
situations of economic or social dependency among students, or at the work
place, all put women at high risk. Sexual violence against women is culturally
and socially excused, and often accepted. .
12. It is critical for DFID's HIV/AIDS strategy to
have a strong gender focus and address the unequal power relations between men
and women that expose women to greater risk of HIV/AIDS. DFID needs to also
acknowledge and directly address the barriers that women face in accessing and
adhering to treatment (poverty, food insecurity, gender inequalities, violence
etc.)
13. Men are
part of the problem and must be part of any solution that DFID develops. For
example, gender sensitive interventions that address men' socialisation are key
to encouraging men to go for voluntary counselling and testing and providing
support to their pregnant wives.
HIV/AIDS IS A HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUE
14. Prevention strategies put the blame for the
spread of the HIV virus on women, not on men. This reflects a gender-biased
conception of morality and religion. The clear divide between 'good women' and
'bad women' often determines the right to information and access to health care
and prevention. But these divisions are becoming blurred, as all women have
become a high- risk group.
15. The over-emphasis on HIV prevention and cure,
at the expense of treatment has resulted in an overall reduction in the budget
allocation for serious problems that affect women such as anaemia, nutritional
deficiencies, injuries due to violence, maternal health and others. Access to
health care by poor women is becoming more and more remote.
16. The pressure to introduce mandatory testing,
especially of target groups, surfaces repeatedly. If implemented, it will amount
to custodial violation of a woman's right to self determination. An alarmist
and stigmatising HIV & AIDS programme can result in practices of concrete
disincentives. In practice it is the woman who is tested because she seeks
health care during her pregnancy. In many cultures, Sexually Transmitted
Infections (STIs) are called 'women's diseases'.
17. If a woman is identified as being HIV positive,
she will be blamed and deprived of food and shelter by her family. These poor,
abandoned and homeless women, who are entirely dependent on the government for
their food and shelter, will be totally compromised in their bargaining power
and right to refuse mandatory testing. The issue of informed consent is
shrouded in the reality of women's social and economic dependency.
LESSONS FROM WOMEN FOR CHANGE, ZAMBIA
18. As an organisation, Women for Change prioritise
the following in their fight against HIV/AIDS
in Zambia.
(i) Intensifying advocacy for policies and
practices that are gender-sensitive, just and effectively respond to the plight
of the poor and those affected and or infected by HIV/AIDS.
(ii) Creating public awareness on rights of
people/women living with HIV/AIDS.
(iii) Intensifying activities in gender analysis
and awareness-raising to ensure that both women and men are sufficiently gender
sensitive and able to act on gender issues that perpetuate contraction and
transmission of HIV/AIDS infection.
(iv) Through the gender programme Women for
Change challenge the power relations that perpetuate the spread of HIV/AIDS
such as sexual cleansing, sexual violence, abuse and rape in homes.
(v) Working with traditional leaders to
advocate for the banning of negative cultural practices that put women and men
at risk of contracting the virus.
(vi) Support interventions aimed at enhancing
the quality of life for orphans and vulnerable children especially girl
children by:
(a) Facilitating support to the orphans and
providing them with school requisites
(b) Facilitating capacity building for the
out-of-school orphans to enable them to look after themselves
(c) Facilitating the attainment of food security
for families caring for orphans
(vii) Working towards poverty eradication in the
communities where they work because of the link between poverty and HIV/AIDS.
(viii) Intensifying advocacy on the plight of HIV/AIDS
orphans and vulnerable children including social support for orphans and widows
in HIV/AIDS prevention.
Annex 1
One World Action (OWA)
OWA was founded by Glenys Kinnock on
December 21 1989 in memory of Bernt Carlsson, the former Swedish UN
Commissioner for Namibia
who died in the Lockerbie aircraft bombing in 1988 while travelling to the
signing ceremony of the Namibian independence agreement.
Today, although we are an organisation of just 15 full time members of staff
(well supported by a fantastic team of volunteers) we work with 41 partners in
19 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America
and have gained a sound reputation for our work on governance, democracy and
gender.
Our partners overseas include other non-governmental organisations, community
and co-operative movements, women's organisations, disabled people's
organisations and trade unions. Though diverse in kind, they have a common
commitment to strengthening local institutions and giving people a say in the
decisions that shape their lives.
We believe poverty is about the lack of power, so we work with the poorest,
most marginalised people, to enable and empower them to transform their own
lives.
Annex 2
Women for Change,
Zambia
Women for Change(WfC) is a gender focused
non-governmental organisation operating in nine districts of Southern, Western
and Central Provinces of Zambia. The organisation recently extended its work to
two chiefdoms in Lundazi and Petauke of Eastern province. The total number of
direct beneficiaries is 236, 205, with an estimated number of 26,500 indirect
beneficiaries. WfC also works with traditional leaders. The Traditional Leaders
programme is currently at the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC)
level.
Other core programmes of WfC are:
· Gender Analysis and awareness raising
· Human Rights Education
· HIV and AIDS sensitisation
· Economic Empowerment
| 