Today in sub-Saharan Africa, 61 percent of all people infected with HIV are women, and women age 15-24 are the most vulnerable to infection. Women and girls are at greater risk of HIV infection in part due to power imbalances between women and men that limit the social and economic choices that women have--including choices about marriage, work, and the conditions of their sexual relationships. To better fight HIV/AIDS and to more effectively prevent its spread, countries and their global HIV/AIDS partners must address the increased risks, vulnerabilities, and consequences of HIV infection that are due to gender inequalities.
A new CGD HIV/AIDS Monitor report finds that while the three large and influential donors--the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the World Bank's Africa Multi-Country AIDS Program (the MAP)--have made high-level commitments around gender, these commitments have not yet translated into concrete and systematic action on the ground--financially or programmatically--in Mozambique, Uganda and Zambia.
On Wednesday, July 1, 2009, CGD hosted a launch event of the report at The National Museum for Women in the Arts, during which the authors, country-level officials, and representatives from the three donors discussed and responded to key findings and recommendations.
Report authors Kim Ashburn, Gender, HIV & AIDS Scientist, International Center for Research on Women, and Nandini Oomman, Director, HIV/AIDS Monitor, Center for Global Development presented their research. Panelists then included Karen Hardee, Vice President for Research, Population Action International; Elizabeth Lule, Manager, ActAfrica, The World Bank; Jane Mpagi, Director of Gender and Community Development, Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development, Uganda; Françoise Ndayishimiye, Senior Gender Expert, The Global Fund; and Nomi Fuchs-Montgomery, Senior Technical Advisor, PEPFAR. Geeta Rao Gupta, President, International Center for Research on Women, provided closing remarks and Ruth Levine, Vice President for Programs and Operations, Center for Global Development, served as the event moderator.
Access Oomman and Ashburn's presentation with audio.
Read HIV/AIDS Monitor Policy Analyst Dave Wendt's blog on this event.
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