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U.S. Plan Protecting Women and Girls from HIV/AIDS

The Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator of the U.S. Department of State released a fact sheet May 9 that outlines U.S. programs intended to help women and girls affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

The programs are part of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the five-year, $15 million program providing support for 15 focus nations.

Those nations are Botswana, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Guyana, Haiti, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Vietnam and Zambia.

The text of the fact sheet follows:

U.S. Department of State
Fact Sheet

Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator
Washington, DC
May 9, 2005

President Bush's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and Women

Protecting women and girls from AIDS is a priority of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. America is using many strategies to protect women and girls -- and is making a difference.

Strategies:

· Making prevention, treatment, and care broadly available to women in Emergency Plan programs;

· Supporting drug therapy and counseling to prevent pregnant women from passing the disease to their children;

· Supporting the roles of parents and others who can help protect girls;

· Strengthening families' and communities' ability to care for orphans and vulnerable children;

· Building palliative care capacity, to help relieve the burden on women as home-based caregivers;

· Partnering with communities to address problems of sexual coercion and the exploitation of women;

· Fighting sex trafficking and prostitution, while still serving victims of these activities;

· Supporting successful relationship and anti-violence programs aimed at men and boys to help them develop healthy relationships with women.

Results from the First Annual Report to Congress of the Emergency Plan, covering the first eight months of implementation through September 30 in 15 severely affected focus countries, from sites that reported by gender:

· The U.S. is the first donor to include gender break-down in its indicators - a critical step to ensure that Emergency Plan services are reaching women and girls.

· Approximately 56 percent of patients who received lifesaving antiretroviral therapy were women.

· Over 1.2 million pregnant women accessed services to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

· Women accounted for approximately half of those in contact with community-based prevention programs.

· The Emergency Plan reached over 120 million people with targeted "ABC" prevention messages.

· Approximately 52 percent of those accessing counseling and testing services were women.

The following are just a few examples of how the Emergency Plan is making a difference in the lives of women and girls in over one hundred countries around the world:

HAITI, Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission Program -- a mobile clinic network reaches women living with HIV/AIDS like Rosiline who recently gave birth to a healthy HIV-negative son as a result of an Emergency Plan funded prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) program. U.S.- funded PMTCT programs around the world have trained more than 14,700 health workers, tested 378,000 women, provided preventative therapy for 34,000 women and spared an estimated 4,800 infants from HIV/AIDS infection.

BOTSWANA, Makgabeneng Radio Drama -- provides prevention, treatment and care information to over half of the population on a twice weekly basis. Women who listen weekly are over four times more likely to report being tested during pregnancy than less frequent listeners. The majority of young women, 15-19 years old, report that their favorite characters are "Dolly" and "Cecilia" -- role models for abstinence and being faithful.

NAMIBIA, Lifeline Childline Program -- uses age appropriate messages to teach girls and boys about HIV/AIDS, sexual abuse, domestic violence and the resources available to vulnerable children through specialized counseling and other services. An estimated 16,000 children and teachers in over 35 schools will benefit from this program.

VIETNAM, Men in the Know Program -- provides training through workshops for men to promote safer sex within relationships and challenges the social norms prevalent in some communities that contribute to the sexual abuse of women.