As campaigners pressed for action at the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), ministers from Liberia, Zimbabwe and Ghana shed light on the reality of gender-based violence and HIV infections in their countries, saying that the link be made explicit in the event’s outcome document.
Ministers of some sub-Saharan countries urged activists to press their governments for the inclusion of effective measures to prevent violence and treat women who are infected with HIV through sexual abuse. Julia Duncan-Cassell, the gender minister of Liberia, said the CSW afforded a chance to lobby for action, noting that ‘Increasingly, violence is being recognised as a cause and consequence of HIV, and that’s important, particularly for women and girls.’
She continued in a passionate, if at times disturbing, discussion on HIV and sexual violence, ‘In sub-Saharan Africa, a region most severely affected, women constitute 60% of people living with HIV. Those aged between 15 and 24 are particularly vulnerable to infection, and in some settings infection rates are higher among young women than among young men. There is strong evidence to suggest gender inequality and violence in particularly play an important role in influencing vulnerability to HIV. Women who experience violence are more likely to contract HIV, and women living with it face higher rates of gender violence.’
Ghana’s gender minister Nana Oye Lithur, noted that whilst there is no data to prove that violence puts women’s wellbeing at risk of HIV, and vice versa, there is much anecdotal evidence to support this harrowing fact. For example, it is still common for women to be forced into marrying a brother-in-law if their husband dies, and the belief that a woman needs to have sex with a stranger to expel the disease of a dead husband still exist. These beliefs mean that women are stripped of power, and their wellness is at risk. Lithur said that HIV and gender violence are often tackled in isolation, and these strands need to be pulled together.
According to Thokozani Khupe, Zimbabwe’s deputy prime minister, education is of paramount importance, especially rural women. ‘In urban areas, women watch TV and read papers,’ but a rural woman is hard at work all day, and ‘if she has a husband, you know what happens.’ She added that the ‘game changers’ for these women are ‘clean water and sanitation … modern agricultural techniques, drip irrigation, solar power so she can have electricity.’
Khupe said that these changes mean ‘This woman is empowered to go to the clinic when she is pregnant, go to political meetings, health centres to find out about family planning. When a husband demands sex she can say let’s go for an HIV test or use condoms. She will go to the police if she is raped. Once you empower [women], issues of HIV and gender-based violence will be a thing of the past.’
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