FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 6, 2007

Contact:
Kelly Castagnaro, International Women's Health Coalition, 212.979.8500 or 646.707.1004 
Serra Sippel, Center for Health and Gender Equity, 301.270.1182 or 301.768.7162

Will Congress Make Global HIV/AIDS Programs Work for Women?

December 6, 2007-The International Women's Health Coalition and Center for Health and Gender Equity applauded Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's introduction yesterday of the Protection Against Transmission of HIV for Women and Youth (PATHWAY) Act  (S. 2415).

The bill would require that the Bush administration's HIV/AIDS prevention strategy include concrete steps to reduce women's and girls' disproportionate vulnerability to HIV, such as:

• increasing access to female condoms;
• confronting gender-based violence, rape and sexual coercion, and child marriage;
• promoting positive male behavior and respect for the rights of women and girls;
• integrating and bolstering health care services that women use;
• calling attention to the risk of HIV infection among married women;
• expanding educational and economic opportunities.

"Women and girls are not only at the heart of the HIV/AIDS challenge, they are the solution," said Adrienne Germain, President of the International Women's Health Coalition.  "The PATHWAY Act includes common-sense investments that women and young people worldwide tell us they need to prevent HIV.  Without such investments, rates of infection have relentlessly increased-and will continue to increase-in all regions."

"Globally, women and girls continue to experience an unprecedented vulnerability to HIV infection," commented Serra Sippel, Executive Director for the Center for Health and Gender Equity.  "It is critical that any response to the AIDS pandemic begin with a  comprehensive plan of action that addresses the vast realities women and girls face worldwide.  We applaud Senator Clinton for introducing the PATHWAY Act, which is a critical step towards creating a U.S. plan that is truly comprehensive."

The Act would also strike the 33% abstinence-until-marriage earmark a part of HIV prevention funding under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief  (PEPFAR).  Mandated under the Global AIDS Act of 2003, the earmark has proved to be problematic for countries aiming to tailor prevention programs that address the HIV/AIDS pandemic amongst their most vulnerable populations.  

Fast facts on women and HIV/AIDS:

• Every five minutes, about 25 girls and women are newly infected with HIV/AIDS.
• Globally, 62% of young people ages 15-24 living with HIV/AIDS are female.
• Among young people (15-24) in sub-Saharan Africa, women constitute 77% of new HIV infections.
• In Brazil, the epidemic is growing nine times faster among women than men.
• Nearly 40% of HIV-positive people in India are female, the majority of them housewives.
• Approximately 80% of women are infected by their primary partners or husbands. 

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