Any AIDS response that does not address women’s realities head-on is doomed to fail.
Women account for more than 60% of the HIV-positive population in sub-Saharan Africa. Across the globe, discrimination and oppression leave women everywhere with less autonomy, less money and less power than men. Those disadvantages give the virus a firm foothold among women, who in turn have less mobility to cope with the pressures of prevention and treatment, while simultaneously bearing the brunt of stigma and of caretaking responsibilities.
AIDS-Free World is founded on the core belief that of the many injustices that paved the way to an AIDS pandemic, gender discrimination is the most pervasive and heinous. We are also certain that the same world that created this situation can end it. From simply raising one brave voice to galvanizing for sweeping societal, legislative and institutional change, the AIDS struggle is a women’s struggle.