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Date Added to
Site: 24th November 2004 |
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Short Summary
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| Title |
Violence against Women and AIDS |
| Author |
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS
(UNAIDS) |
| Publication
Date |
June 2004 |
| Publisher |
UNAIDS |
| Donor |
UNAIDS |
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Short Summary |
This fact sheet analyses the issue of violence
against women and its relationship with AIDS. It argues that besides
being a major human rights and public health problem worldwide, violence
against women increases female vulnerability to HIV. Fear of violence
prevents women from accessing HIV/AIDS information, being tested,
disclosing their HIV status, accessing services for the prevention
of HIV transmission to infants, and receiving treatment and counselling,
even when they know they have been infected. This is particularly
true where HIV-related stigma remains high. The high incidence of
non-consensual sex, women's inability to negotiate safer sex, and
in many cases fear of abandonment or eviction from homes and communities,
present extreme challenges - particularly for women who lack economic
means. Married women are at risk as there is particular resistance
to using condoms within marriage. Women face additional obstacles
due to the pervasiveness of discriminatory legal frameworks which
fail to guarantee equal rights or equal protection before the law.
Leadership at global, national and community levels must be mobilised
to promote the education and legal status of women and make violence
against women unacceptable.
For a copy of this publication, please contact: UNAIDS Information
Centre, V-building, Office 102, 20 avenue Appia, 1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland
, Telephone: +41 22 791 3666, Email: unaids@unaids.org |
| Summary Source |
adapted from Health Resource Centre (HRC)/ELDIS |
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