Celebrating women and girls on IWD

International Women’s Day: Breaking gender bias in HIV

As the world marks International Women’s Day and celebrates the remarkable achievements made by women across the globe, I would like to dedicate this day to the extraordinary girls and women at the forefront of the HIV response. In a world facing a climate crisis, increasing violence and war, pandemics and the ongoing challenges of gender inequality we need to stand together as women to fight for a safer, fairer world.

Approximately 5,000 women and girls acquire HIV each week in sub-Saharan Africa[1]. This stark figure highlights the disproportionate impact of HIV on this group, with stigma and discrimination resulting in low uptake of testing, limited access to treatment and vital HIV care services. Lack of access to education, poverty, and high prevalence of gender-based violence also contribute to existing vulnerabilities. Shockingly, 1 in 4 young women (aged 15-24 years) who have been in a relationship will have already experienced violence by an intimate partner by the time they reach their mid-twenties[2].

A collaborative approach to empower women

This year’s IWD theme urges us to #BreakTheBias so that women can live in an equitable and inclusive world where they are valued and celebrated. I believe we can achieve the ultimate goal of ending the AIDS epidemic, but to do this, women and girls must be the central focus to all of our efforts in the HIV response. Through ViiV Healthcare’s flagship foundation, Positive Action, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, we continue to invest in programmes such as the HER Voice Fund, to support adolescent girls and young women to have a meaningful voice in decision-making that affects their health, and many community led organisations who work to empower young people to realise their sexual and reproductive health and rights. Organisations like these are critical in addressing some of the biggest challenges women living with HIV have in sub-Saharan Africa.

When we began investing in organisations supporting women and girls, we were focussed almost entirely on investing in capacity-building. Today, as we move into our fourth decade, we are working side by side with communities of young women to empower female focused leadership in HIV. When we equip and encourage young women to harness their potential and power, real change can take place. Positive Action is committed to a world where women are empowered to have their own space and are considered valued contributors to their community.

Those who know me will understand my personal passion, drive and commitment to empowering young women living with HIV. I believe we not only have a duty to collectively work towards leaving no woman living with HIV behind, but also to recognise and enable the role these women have in the future of the HIV response and in us all reaching the UNAIDS goal of zero infections by 2030.

With shared goals and shared targets, together we can break #BreakTheBias and eliminate inequalities once and for all.?

#HIV #InternationalWomensDay #PositiveAction #PositiveActionAt30

[1] UNAIDS Fact Sheet available at https://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/media_asset/UNAIDS_FactSheet_en.pdf Last Accessed March 2022

[2] WHO ‘Violence Against Women Prevalence Estimates’, 2018 available at https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240022256 released in 2021, Last Accessed March 2022