Breakthrough on Violence Against Women and Girls Expands Protection from HIV/AIDS

[Guest guest]

GLOBAL ACTION ALERT

21 July 2015

Breakthrough on Violence Against Women and Girls Expands Protection from HIV/AIDS

--please circulate widely on listerves/facebook/twitter--

ACTION REQUEST: Sign the Declaration to End Violence by Year-End 2015

http://www.globalaidsalliance.org/page/s/ZTIAC

READ FULL REPORT:

http://aidsalliance.3cdn.net/8f8cfbce38768b3e7e_ibm6bcxh7.pdf

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEJULY 21, 2010

Breakthrough on Violence Against Women and Girls Expands Protection from HIV/AIDS

Recent policies and programs on violence against women and girls from three major AIDS donors and normative agencies UNAIDS, PEPFAR and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria -- are opening up new ways to address global HIV/AIDS. Iconic African musician Chaka Chaka called for a massive effort to scale up these comprehensive programs.

We've waited long enough! The time for action is now! said Chaka Chaka, who also serves as the United Nations MDG Envoy for Africa and as an UNICEF Ambassador. We will fail to reach universal access or achieve the MDGs if we do not eliminate and mitigate the impacts of violence against women and girls.

Global AIDS Alliances new report, Political Breakthrough: Mobilizing Accelerated Action to End Violence Against Women and Girls by 2015, examines important new policies from the three agencies on stopping violence against women and girls. The report highlights the impact these new policies and funding streams are having in addressing HIV/AIDS.

This political breakthrough provides us a long-awaited beachhead for further action, said Schechtman, Policy Director for Global AIDS Alliance. Donors and normative agencies must continue to show increasing leadership on scaled-up multisectoral violence against women and girls programs, both in context of HIV/AIDS and as a human rights catastrophe in its own right.

The report highlights progress made, the contributions of civil society, and the importance of political will in tackling violence and HIV/AIDS. It also make recommendations for how PEPFAR, the Global Fund, UNAIDS and global and local civil society must work together to ensure this opportunity is not wasted, but leads to successful, multisectoral and scaled-up lifesaving responses.

Globally, it is estimated that one out of every three women will be beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused over the course of her lifetime. At least one in five women will be raped or experience attempted rape. Nearly 50% of all sexual assaults are committed against girls aged 15 years or younger.

Violence against women and girls is a primary barrier to achieving universal access to HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment. Indeed, without addressing violence against women and girls, the multibillion dollar fight against AIDS is sure to fail.

"Violence takes away the ability of women and girls to protect themselves from HIV and to access critical HIV services, said Dr. Jantine i, Team Leader, Women, Girls and Gender Equality, and Director, Global Coalition on Women and AIDS, UNAIDS. Violence robs women and girls of their dignity, affecting generations to come".

Central to the fight against HIV/AIDS is a fight against violence, said Ntombekhaya Matsha-Carpterntier, Senior Civil Society Officer for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. As such violence must be dealt with head on through effective programming and effective funding of those programs. The Global Fund as a major finance engine in fighting HIV/AIDS supports this initiative to put an end to violence.

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For more information, contact Jove Oliver at +1 646-373-4702 or jove.oliver@....

ACTION REQUEST: Sign the Declaration to End Violence by Year-End 2015

http://www.globalaidsalliance.org/page/s/ZTIAC

READ FULL REPORT:

http://aidsalliance.3cdn.net/8f8cfbce38768b3e7e_ibm6bcxh7.pdf

1 of 1 File(s)

ZT final release.doc