ISLAMABAD, Nov 21: An action against AIDS that does not confront gender inequality is doomed to failure, says a report entitled "Women and HIV/AIDS: Confronting the Crisis" issued by UNIFEM, UNAIDS and UNFPA in July 2004.
According to Dr Nafis Sadik, special envoy of the UN secretary-general for HIV/AIDS in Asia and Pacific, stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV and gender inequality remain the two biggest challenges to prevention of the disease in South Asia, as women of this region are socially and economically more vulnerable with less opportunity to protect themselves.
In Pakistan this year, World AIDS Day is being ushered by a conference that will focus on girls and women affected by the epidemic and mobilize a collaboration to effectively fight HIV/AIDS in Asia.
The Asia/Pacific Women, Girls and HIV/AIDS Best Practices Conference is very timely scheduled, as today 38 million people world wide are HIV-positive and as the pandemic spreads, an increasing percentage of the victims are women.
In Asia, there are between 7.4-10.5 million people living with HIV/AIDS. According to the report, India alone now has an estimated 5.1 million infected people. Not only does Asia have the world's most populous countries, it is home to 60 per cent of the world's people.
Co-sponsored by the Ministry of Health, National AIDS Control Programme, Pakistan, UNAIDS and AMAL Human Development Network, the conference, which begins on November 29, will end on World AIDS Day on December 1.
It will emphasize the need to address the root causes such as power and inequality, leadership, human rights, advocacy and women's burden of care and will bring together eminent speakers, researchers and clinicians, programme managers and people from across Asia/Pacific region and around the world.
During the three-day event the participants will propose innovative thinking and programming on HIV/AIDS in Asia and the Pacific in order to close gaps in policy implementation, research and programme performance.
