Moving beyond Barcelona, the month of August focuses
on women. Researchers, activists and people living with
HIV/AIDS engaged at the 14th World AIDS Conference around
the theme of "Knowledge and Commitment for Action".
However, correspondents and delegates alike noted a
disturbing hiatus since the AIDS 2000 Conference in
Durban in progress regarding women's biological and
socio-economic vulnerability to HIV infection, and the
devastating implications this bears for the spread of
the epidemic.
Knowledge about the scale of the epidemic amongst
women is readily available - at least 16 million women
worldwide are infected with HIV and in our own province
of KwaZulu-Natal, approximately one in four women, many
of them very young, are HIV-positive. Commitment
for action, however, has been tragically lacking.
Whilst the scale and urgency of the needs of women are
well-known, how they will be met and who will lead such
action remain unresolved.
Extreme poverty, armed conflicts, rampant child and
women abuse, lack of access to basic education, health
services and denial of human rights have obviated the
options and opportunities of women on our continent
to cope with HIV/AIDS. Graca Machel said in her stirring
address to the Barcelona Conference: "We have not
been integrated and comprehensive in our strategies.
Unlike the virus, we have not been unrelenting in our
commitment."
It would seem that HIV/AIDS has cruelly violated the
innately feminine physiological and psychological quality
of receptivity. Endless presentations and "research
about research" bring women at grassroots level
no nearer to empowering solutions. The onset of the
Information Age, with its rapid pace and potent connectivity,
is not securing prevention, treatment and care for women
in resource-poor settings, or at least, not rapidly
enough.
Nonetheless, within this huge potential for disseminating
information are the keys to mobilising a more action-orientated
response to the epidemic. Interestingly, these keys
also happen to be feminine in character, and have been
demonstrated, particularly by African women, through
the ages: the ability to network for survival, a stoic
strength of purpose, unbridled creativity, enduring
optimism and enormous courage.
In seeking social cohesion, let us not dwell on the
mixed messages and dangerous delays on commitment and
action around HIV/AIDS that have been attributed to
the few women leaders in our governmental structures.
Let us not fail to acknowledge those women and men who
are speaking out for a united response to the
epidemic. Let us not discount the millions of voiceless
women who are supporting themselves and their communities,
day by arduous day, through their suffering.
On International Women's Day in March this year, UNAIDS
Executive Director Peter Piot said: "Equity in
all fields ... is essential if women are to act to protect
themselves from HIV and AIDS." and UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan concluded that "...achievement of women's
rights is not the responsibility of women alone - it
is the responsibility of us all."
The issue of leadership is central to the gender-biased
environment of HIV/AIDS. This Millennium sees male-led
governments devising collaborative means to ensure global
progress and prosperity, yet it is women who understand
the art of partnership. Human rights and development
activists call for a more caring society - and it is
women who know about nurturing. Perhaps future behaviour-change
interventions should be premised on the concept that
those who respect and value women are self-respecting,
confident human beings. Society could wish for no better
form of equality and balance.
In solidarity with the vision of a gender-balanced,
united stance against HIV/AIDS, as this month unfolds,
our site will foreground articles with a specific bearing
on women's issues as they relate to the epidemic. We
welcome your input on topics such as: business and the
buying power of women, governance from the ground, women
and the land, nurses and their engagement with HIV/AIDS,
and our country's true champions: the unassuming home-based
caregivers who work on through poverty and disease despite
overwhelming odds.
Do explore
and contribute to this content: connect via our discussion
boards, delve into our database and determine which
organisations and individuals could help you and your
loved ones, or whom you could assist in coping with
the effects of HIV infection. From the ground up, let
us commit to action against HIV and AIDS.
