Source: The Standard
"Getting to Zero” stands for the hope that we have for eliminating HIV. We can get to zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero Aids-related deaths, but the challenge is how to get there and how to hold on to the gains made so as not to roll backwards.
As we head into the fourth decade of the Aids challenge, we are now in a position to truly see an end to the epidemic. This is the time to act and not to be complacent. This is the time to break the yolk of silence, stigma and discrimination that can undo all the work that has gone into responding to the epidemic. It is the time to make smart investments in prevention, treatment and care.
Since 1997 the number of new HIV infections has fallen by more than 20% globally mainly due to changes in behaviour, but also increased access to treatment. Last year alone, 700 000 lives were saved across the world. Some 6,6 million people, nearly half of those who need treatment in low- and middle-income countries, are now receiving it.
These achievements are cause for celebration; however, we have equally a cause for concern and the need to stay focused. Today, in Africa, the vulnerability of women and girls to HIV remains extremely high; with 59% of all people living with HIV being women. Of the total number of young people aged between 15-24, seven out of 10 are women. Young women bear the brunt of new infections, and in some parts of Africa they are up to six times more likely to acquire HIV than their male peers. While 22% of all new infections globally occur among girls and young women aged 15- 24, in Africa this amounts to 31%.
Women also bear most of the burden of care for sick partners, relatives and sick children. UNAids estimates that of all newly infected children in 2009, at least 76% of the infections occurred in Africa. According to WHO data, more than half of all maternal deaths occur in Africa, with an average maternal mortality ratio of 620 per 100 000 live births.
There is a correlation between the high adolescent fertility rate which in Africa stands at 117 per 1 000 of the girls aged 15-19 years and the underutilisation of educational and economic opportunities for girls and young women.
The prevailing gender inequalities and gender-based-violence are chief among other factors that increase women and girls’ risk to HIV infection, further hindering the progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Who will attend the meeting?
The GlobalPOWER®Women Network Africa meeting will bring together women parliamentarians, heads of state, leading African women entrepreneurs, civil society leaders and development partners, to agree on priorities to accelerate action. The high-level meeting is expected to serve as a strategic political platform for a paradigm shift to positively impact on the lives of women and girls in Africa.
The meeting also seeks to generate responses that will align the HIV and the Sexual and Reproductive Health Agenda to action for women empowerment and the human rights of women and girls.
Global POWER seeks to address women, girls vulnerability
The 2011 Political Declaration on HIV and Aids, and the UNAids call for “Getting to Zero” to halt the spread of HIV and mitigate the impact of the epidemic on women and girls, recognises that progress on HIV and sexual and reproductive health and rights are intertwined and mutually reinforcing.
HIV being one of the leading causes of death among women of reproductive age in Africa, the achievement of sexual and reproductive health and rights agenda is key to achieving the goals set in the Political Declaration in Africa. Particularly important are the reduction of new HIV infections by half; access to antiretroviral treatment for 15 million people by 2015; and elimination of vertical transmission of HIV and substantial reduction in Aids-related maternal deaths by 2015.
Behind each data line there is a human face, which is a sober reminder that HIV is still very much with us, and it requires each of us to work together, and with an intention and intensity that we are yet to see. Changed attitudes and behaviours must become the norm and the culture.
This cannot be addressed by better project design only, it is critically driven by leadership vision and commitment to achieving such change at all levels, where a people’s courage and determination to do away with this epidemic prevails.
It is for this reason the Global Partnership of Women Representatives (GlobalPOWER®) was established in 2010.
In less than two years, since its establishment, the GlobalPOWER®Women Network Africa in collaboration with the African Union and UNAids will convene a high-level meeting between May 24-25 2012 in Harare.
It is my sincere hope that this meeting will be able to identify a set of replicable innovative actions for women and girls, including optimal community engagement. It goes without saying that agreed actions for enhanced resource mobilisation, financing sustainability and accountability for the cause of women, girls, gender equality and HIV, is also critical component for the success of the GlobalPOWER’s initiative.
Thokozani Khupe is Deputy Prime Minister in the Inclusive Government of the Republic of Zimbabwe and President of the Global Partnership of Women Elected and Appointed Representatives (GlobalPOWER) Women Africa Network.