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Commonwealth Secretariat press release

WORLD AIDS DAY 2003 - Message from the Commonwealth Secretary-General

28 November 2003

Last year alone, the AIDS pandemic claimed more than 3 million lives. Five million people - two-thirds of whom are Commonwealth citizens - were infected. The pandemic is having a particularly devastating impact on women. Women and girls now make up half of those infected with HIV globally, and in Africa that figure is 58%.

HIV/AIDS has no regard for the principle of gender equality: young women between the ages of 15 and 19 are 5 times more likely to get infected than young men. Less than one in 20 pregnant women seeking ante-natal care can obtain the necessary care and drugs to prevent transmission of the virus to their unborn child.

Moreover, women suffer in greater measure from HIV/AIDS-related stigma and discrimination. When a woman's husband dies of AIDS, she often becomes the victim of violence and is deprived of credit, community support networks and land rights.

It is therefore very appropriate that this year's theme for World AIDS Day on 1 December 2003 should be "Women and HIV/AIDS".

The impact of HIV/AIDS on women has a knock-on effect on economic growth and social development: labour productivity has been cut by up to 50% in the hardest-hit countries. Conversely, healthy, empowered women are able to better manage their families, increase household income, protect their health and that of their families and contribute to the development of their community.

Any effective strategy to tackle the spread of HIV/AIDS must therefore put women at the centre. But for that to happen, many hurdles need to be overcome.

In many societies, women are politically and socially disempowered and are submitted to the authority of men - fathers, brothers and community elders. When it comes to sexual relations, the imbalance of power is even greater.

In order to address the impact of the AIDS pandemic, we must therefore ensure that women are empowered to respond to this challenge. Improving women's rights and deepening the democratic culture of a society can have a direct impact on how families and communities can cope with the crisis.

An effective response demands that we confront a broad range of economic, legal and social challenges. We need to start with a personal look at our perceptions, beliefs and practices and retune our thinking and action, in order to generate national responses which will strengthen women's rights.


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