VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND AIDS

Author(s): UNAIDS

Produced by: UNAIDS (Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/
AIDS) (2004)

This fact sheet analyses the issue of violence against
women and its relationship with AIDS. It argues that besides
being a major human rights and public health problem
worldwide, violence against women increases female
vulnerability to HIV.

Key findings include:

* fear of violence prevents women from accessing HIV/AIDS
information, being tested, disclosing their HIV status,
accessing services for the prevention of HIV transmission
to infants, and receiving treatment and counselling, even
when they know they have been infected. This is
particularly true where HIV-related stigma remains high

* the high incidence of non-consensual sex, women's
inability to negotiate safer sex, and in many cases fear
of abandonment or eviction from homes and communities,
present extreme challenges - particularly for women who
lack economic means

* between 20%-48% of adolescent girls aged 10-25 report
their first sexual encounter was forced

* it is not just young women coerced into sex outside of
marriage who are at risk. A young married woman engaging
in monogamous heterosexual sex with her husband can also
be at risk. In these circumstances traditional messages of
prevention are of little relevance as condoms are less
likely to be used inside marriage

* women face additional obstacles due to the pervasiveness
of discriminatory legal frameworks which fail to guarantee
equal rights or equal protection before the law

The document concludes that a comprehensive response to
tackle violence against women and HIV/AIDS must include:

* mobilising leadership at global, national, and community
levels to generate action to ensure that normative change
occurs to make violence against women unacceptable

* expanding the evidence base highlighting the prevalence
of violence against women, including the economic, social
and health costs, and its links to HIV and AIDS

* building the knowledge base on the relationship between
violence against women and HIV and AIDS and disseminating
this information to researchers and practitioners in both
fields

* promoting national and community level action that
improves the education and legal standing of women and
builds on successful efforts and encourages innovation and
partnership among groups working on both issues

[adapted from author]

Available online at:
https://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC14547