Transcript Slide 1

Violence Against Women and
HIV & AIDS:
The Devastating and Deadly
Intersection
Findings and
Recommendations from
Zimbabwe, Nepal, and Liberia
Links between Violence Against
Women and Girls and HIV &
AIDS
• Women in violent relationships are much less likely to seek HIV &
AIDS related counseling, testing or treatment. They will also be less
likely to disclose their status to their partner
• Women who disclose their status are frequently beaten, lose their
homes, jobs and children and are rejected or even physically
abused by the community
• Domestic violence and abuse are still largely viewed as a private
matter which makes women less likely to access necessary health
care, counseling, and services
• Fear of violence often prevents women from negotiating condom
use.
Links between Violence Against
Women and Girls and HIV &
AIDS (con’td)
• Even when rape is reported, few survivors have access
to PEP treatment, which can prevent HIV infection.
• Incidence of sexual assault has increased due to the
myth that having sex with a virgin will cure HIV & AIDS.
• Rape often involves physical violence and is usually
without a condom, thereby increasing the risk of HIV
infection.
Today I am Representing the
Voices of Women of…….
• Zimbabwe
• Liberia
• Nepal
Zimbabwe
• The harsh economic environment has grave implications
for Zimbabwe’s capacity to deal with the twin pandemics
of HIV&AIDS and VAW.
• Unemployment has, in many instances, resulted in the
reversal of roles in families as women became the
breadwinners by engaging in cross border trade or
working as migrant workers outside the country.
• This has created fertile conditions for VAW as men’s
traditional roles have been threatened.
Zimbabwe
Economic conditions have resulted in an increase in
commercial sex work, as well as transactional sex.
– Sex workers are a marginalised and often
criminalised population.
– They are more vulnerable to HIV infection and
violence because they are demonized, discriminated
against, as well as made invisible in decision-making
processes.
– A SAFAIDS study of sex workers in Zimbabwe found
that a staggering 86 percent of women were HIVpositive and 34 percent had an STIs
Nepal
• Cultural perceptions of women’s sexual and reproductive obligations
in marriage rob women of bodily autonomy, while unequal property
rights, the payment of bride price, and women’s inability to take their
children from the fathers’ homes render women unable to leave
abusive relationships.
• In addition to coping with violence and disease, many women must
also contend with the uncertain future their children face as children
of parents with AIDS. As a result, many economically dependent
women stay in high-risk, violent marriages.
• Widows also face imposing obstacles: many are stripped of their
property and left to struggle to support themselves and their children
while they are at their weakest. These factors and more combine
with violence, or the threat of violence, to create an environment
within which women are trapped into having unprotected sex with
HIV-positive men and are unable to seek information or treatment.
Nepal
• “He would beat me to the point that he was too ashamed
to take me to the doctor. He forced me to have sex with
him and beat me if I refused. This went for every [wife].
Even when he was HIV-positive he still wanted sex. He
refused to use a condom.” --Babita
•
“He used to force me to have sex with him. He would
beat me and slap me when I refused. He never used a
condom with him . . .. When I got pregnant I went for a
medical check-up. When I gave birth, and the child had
passed away, they told me I was HIV-positive. I cried.
The doctor told me, “Wipe your tears, the whole world is
sick.”
Liberia
• Female relatives of perceived enemies were raped and
tortured. Women were forced to cook for the troops, then
were tortured and violated as enemy collaborators.
During the various conflicts women were used as sex
slaves with the sole purpose of satisfying the sexual
desire of the fighting forces.
– One family tells of their ordeal where the grandmother, mother
and granddaughter were gang raped after witnessing the
execution of the grandmother’s only son. Today all three females
are HIV positive.
Liberia
• During the 2002-2003 civil crises, Famatta was gang
raped by a general and his body guards.
• She reported the rape to her father but he felt powerless
to help her.
• A few months after the rape, Famatta began to feel ill;
suffering from chronic diarrhea. She was pregnant.
When she visited the hospital, she was diagnosed HIV
positive.
• Her partner abandoned her and her twin sons. Famatta
believes that she acquired HIV/AIDS as a result of the
rape.
Liberia (cont’d)
• The war is over but the violence against women in the
form of rape, sexual assault and exploitation did not end
with the civil conflict. In post war Liberia the culture of
violence, particularly violence against women, is
widespread.
• Research carried out by IRC among Liberian refugees in
Sierra Leona, reports that 74% of the respondents
reported experiencing at least one incidence of SGBV
before being displaced and 66% of them had
experienced at least one incidence of SGBV since their
displacement.
Recommendations
• To truly eliminate VAW and HIV&AIDS, the strategy must be deep
and systemic in nature, as societies and infrastructure must change
in order to begin to remedy the structurally, culturally, and
systemically perpetuated contexts and dynamics which support
gender equality.
In the meantime……
• Given the proliferation of women contracting HIV through situations
where they are not in a position to negotiate safer sexual health
choices, we must come up with comprehensive strategies which
reach beyond ABC and that will protect women and over which they
have more control.
– Strategies must include increasing access to the female condom and
advancing progress towards the availability of microbicides.
Recommendations (cont’d)
• We must increase gender mainstreaming/incorporation
of women’s rights-sensitive policy making into HIV
prevention strategy
• Laws against VAW in all its forms and contexts must be
in place, (against sex workers, IPV, SBV, etc)
communities and women & girls must be educated
regarding their rights, and enforcement of laws must be
assured.
• Increased funding and programming must be dedicated
to elevating integrated programming addressing the
intersection of Violence Against Women and HIV&AIDS.
Recommendations (cont’d)
• Substantial improvement is needed, at the country level,
in terms of level of political will for addressing VAW and
HIV&AIDS.
• Sex workers, and other high risk/vulnerable groups,
must be involved in planning and decision making
related to prevention and impact mediation of VAW and
HIV&AIDS.
• Youth participation and leadership roles must be
increased.
Recommendations (last)
• Some traditional and cultural practices take precedence over
national policies and laws. There is need to harmonise them in order
to eliminate dual systems that often confer undue privileges on men.
• More programmes, by men. that target men to influence behaviour
and attitude change are needed.
• There must be dedicated programs to address special needs of
particularly vulnerable groups such as commercial sex workers, the
LGBT community, people who are injecting drugs, and persons with
disability.
• Improvement is needed in the health and social sector’s capacity to
address the needs of battered women and survivors of various
forms of abuse with special attention to HIV risk.
Sample of Key Resources
•
Strengthening Resistance: Confronting Violence Against Women and HIV &
AIDS www.cwgl.org
•
World Health Organization Multi-Country Study on VAW and HIV&AIDS
www.who.int
•
Center for Health and Gender Equity-Global GBV/RH Directory
www.genderhealth.org
•
Women Won’t Wait Coalition and the “Show Me the Money” Report
www.womenwontwait.org
•
Harvard School of Public Health, Program on International Health and Human
Rights http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/pihhr/
Please watch our website where we’ll soon post a comprehensive resource list!
www.actionaidusa.org
Thank You
Jacqui Patterson
[email protected]
202-370-9916