Young women and HIV / AIDS Initiative Di For Begoña Gracia Anton
Today, the first of December marks the World Day to Combat AIDS, so This is a propitious occasion than to meet, disseminate and take action on the matter, as a government and society on the situation experienced by millions of young women in the world living with HIV or who are at risk of contracting the virus reasons mainly discrimination and gender inequality.
According to UNAIDS, an estimated 11.8 million young in the world living with HIV / AIDS and, more alarmingly, 45% of all new infections worldwide are in people aged between 15 and 24 [i] . Evidence shows that youth, mostly not properly informed about HIV [ii] primarily on those factors risk of contracting the disease. This has not helped counter the spread of the pandemic in a uniform and comprehensive and therefore effective.
Young women are disproportionately affected by HIV / AIDS: about 60% of those infected between 15 and 24 are women [iii] It is estimated that every day are infected about 3, 720 young women [iv] , most of them do not reach 35 years age, because they will not have adequate medical care and necessary to cope with the disease [v] . In many parts of the world, the prevalence of HIV / AIDS among young women two to three times that of men. According to UNAIDS data, in South Africa the prevalence among young women is three times higher than that of their peers. In Asia, about 95% of infections among young people focuses on adolescents and the Caribbean, where women make up 50% of all infections, the prevalence is highest among adolescents and young women [vi] .
Therefore, adolescents and young women are currently the population group most at risk and vulnerability to HIV / AIDS, especially when they are socially disadvantaged or marginalized. While this scenario is per se critical even more so when the risk factors for HIV are related to gender inequality and discrimination against women.
What do I mean? In many parts the world, young women experience double discrimination as women and because they are young, and this is manifested, for example: no access to education and health services and sexual and reproductive education quality are discriminated according to sex and, therefore, social and institutional rules relegate the bottom rung of the social pyramid and therefore can not negotiate safe sex, or young women are particularly vulnerable to experience sexual and gender violence both in peacetime and conflict, post-conflict or post-natural disaster, with the consequent risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases, including including HIV. Most worrisome of all, as UNIFEM has established in various documents, is that because of unequal power relations between men and women, millions of teens and young women in the world have no power of decision and control over their bodies. Unquestionably, this must change!
What we can do as a government and society to such a scenario? Empowering girls and young women in all spheres of development, both individual and collective . The answer is not simple, because it brings together a number of situations and factors to be considered simultaneously to make young women aware of and effectively exercise their rights, including those related to education, health, free from violence and, as a priority, you decide on your body. can hardly reverse the high trends of HIV transmission among young people, especially young women, not targeted strategies to empower and position to government and society.
Last August, under the Young Women's Forum, organized by UNIFEM during the World Youth Conference, held in Mexico from 23 to 27 August, young panelists presented a series of recommendations to address specifically the situation of millions of young women in the world living with HIV / AIDS or who are potentially at risk of contracting the disease. Among the recommendations, outlined below I consider the most pressing:
a) know the reality at the local level, taking into account the range of environments and contexts in which young women unfold . This will collect information on risk factors for the disease or on the specific needs of women living with HIV. information and quantitative and qualitative evidence is critical to the successful integration of national responses to the pandemic. This is a point that national and local governments should consider as a priority, because in many public policies and national strategies on HIV / AIDS, the situation of adolescent girls and young women are simply absent. In short, responsible for drawing up public policies on HIV / AIDS must consider the perspective of youth as a priority.
b) Transform attitudes, prejudices and stereotypes about gender relations and sexual and reproductive health . words, national responses to the pandemic should not be addressed solely from the standpoint of public health. The inclusion of strategies to transform relations between men and women are pivotal to changing attitudes and values \u200b\u200bthat discriminate against women, especially adolescents and young adults. Include a gender perspective is an indispensable to ensure that national responses on HIV / AIDS are effective in the short and long term. participation and involvement of men and boys is an essential part in this process.
c) Empowering young women, especially those living with HIV / AIDS, to participate in the processes of discussion and decision-making, both nationally and internationally, on all matters related to HIV / AIDS . Governments ignore this reality in large part because their young, especially those living with HIV, not have access to the forums which addresses this issue. and participation of young people is critical to national responses to consider their rights and needs.
HIV / AIDS has a young woman's face. Let us join efforts, individually and collectively, to change this reality.
[i] UNAIDS. Epidemic AIDS. 2008. [ii] UN. Millennium Development Goals. Report 2009. NY, UN, 2009. [iv] UNFPA / YMCA. Empowering Young Women to Lead Change . YMCA, 2006, p. 36. [v] UNFPA / YMCA. Empowering Young Women to Lead Change . YMCA, 2006, p. 36
