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Mount comprehensive responses tailored to national realities.

Document signed by the African Union Ministers of Health to outline actions that secure sexual and reproductive rights and health (SRRH) in Africa.  Rendered and signed at the special Session of the African Union, Conference of Ministers of Health in Maputo, Mozambique (September 18-22, 2006).

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Summary: The following speech about the HIV/AIDS pandemic's devastating impact on women was delivered by Stephen Lewis, the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, at the Microbicides 2004 conference in London, on March 30, 2004. For more information about the conference, please visitwww.microbicides2004.org.uk (5 pages).

International Herald Tribune, July 9, 2003

By Kati Marton and Adrienne Germain

Across the African subcontinent, almost 60 percent of those living with HIV/AIDS are girls and women. In South Africa, women are dying at such a rate that the entire gender balance is being altered—from near parity to a ratio of 120 males to every 100 females. The implications of the feminization of AIDS are huge—for caregiving, the health and wholeness of families, social stability, policies and programs.

Summary: This article by Sunanda Ray originally appeared in Vol. XXIV, No. 2 of Conscience, the quarterly newsjournal of Catholic opinion published by Catholics for a Free Choice, 1436 U Street, NW, Suite 301, Washington, DC 20009, USA. Visit www.catholicsforchoice.org.

The Miami Herald, March 31, 2003

By Adrienne Germain

President Bush's announcement of a $15 billion effort to fight HIV/AIDS in the worst affected countries may seem like a huge windfall, but when you witness the staggering impact of the disease on these countries, $15 billion starts to look more like a drop in the bucket. Unless Bush and Congress come up with a spending plan that reflects the depth and complexity of the crisis, that's exactly what it will continue to be.