Aids for Combat

Another World Health Day (April 7) arrives and turns the spotlight on the millions suffering from ill health. Amongst those infected with HIV/AIDS, almost half are women (Millenium Development Goals (MDG) Report 2007). In addition to the feminisation of the HIV epidemic, gender discrimination - in terms of unequal access to care and basic health practices - exacerbates the situation. Thus, HIV/AIDS programmes, advocacy and education must address the underlying gender inequalities in order to decrease the health risks to women and to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS, as targeted by MDG 6.

Five features from the WFS archives on the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the developing world.

The international positive women's network, ICW (International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS), has helped thousands of women deal with the discrimination and trauma of being HIV+. The most heartening development of late, ICW feels, has been the synergy between positive women's groups and women's organisations. The '5 Key Challenges' - greater focus on sexual and reproductive health; access to care, treatment and support; involvement of HIV+ people; challenging taboos; and action for change - may now be achievable.

* The Swaziland government's 'Makhwapheni campaign' says that all HIV+ women are Makhwapheni (women with secret lovers) and blames HIV+ women for being the cause of HIV infection.

India:
HIV/AIDS : Future Shocks
By Swapna Majumdar

Future strategies on HIV/AIDS need to consider the grim reality of several HIV+ widows, who face discrimination, stigma and poverty on a daily basis. A recent study by UNDP and India's National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) says that 60 per cent of the HIV+ widows are less than 30 years of age, and almost 30 per cent of them are illiterate. Declining assets and breakdown of social bonds lead to food insecurity among widow-headed households. Many of these women are likely to sell sex to survive.

* There is a glimmer of hope. "As HIV+ widows, they realise the importance of educating their daughters and enabling them to stand on their own feet."

India:
'Positive' Group Living
By Hema Vijay

Formerly destitute (read thrown out of their own homes), women and their children live together, supporting each other, thanks to World Vision's 'Group Living' project for HIV positive women. These women are now learning life skills and vocations that carry them into the larger community entirely able to fend for themselves, and for each other. In a society that ostracises HIV positive women, especially widows, and denies due them property rights, the communal 'homes' the women inhabit are a model step ahead.

* "We would not have found this degree of acceptance even if we had lived in our own homes; some degree of discrimination would have crept in. Here, we share the illness too."

India:
Holding that Little Hand
By Nilanjana Bhowmick

The condition of HIV+ children is posing immense challenges: Those engaged in dealing with these children find that there is a need to walk the tightrope of catering to the medical needs of these children, while allowing them to remain in the mainstream - but social attitudes make this almost impossible. Experts are of the view that segregation is not the answer, and policymakers are now focusing on providing HIV+ children necessary medication, while allowing them to live like normal children.

* "It is very difficult with children as they innocently divulge their status. Last time that happened there was a huge furore among the patients and nurses. They wanted a screen to separate the child from the general patients. Nowadays we ask the children to keep quiet about their positive status."

India:
Manual Help to Fight AIDS
By Swapna Majumdar

Illiterate and neo-literate women in the HIV-prevalent states of Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal are now aware of HIV/AIDS, its routes of transmission, testing techniques, prevention methods and support to HIV+ people through a unique and illustrated manual. Designed for vulnerable women, who cannot read and have no access to proper information, the manual engages its audience through visuals, three-dimensional pullouts and stories that seem straight out of the lives of the impoverished students.

* This is, perhaps, the first time a manual on a sensitive subject like HIV/AIDS is based entirely upon inputs and drawings by rural women.

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