Gender-Based Approach to HIV/AIDS

Women and girls make up an increasing proportion of people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.

The lower social and economic status of women and girls, and their lack of negotiating power increase their vulnerability to the epidemic and its impact. Globally, 60% of 15-24 year olds living with HIV/AIDS are young women. Even where support services may be available, women and girls are victims of stigmatisation and usually have less access to HIV/AIDS care and treatment than men.

Women and girls also disproportionately bear the burden of the epidemic. They are the principal carers for people living with HIV/AIDS, and they are most likely to lose property and assets on becoming widowed. Young girls are more likely to shoulder the responsibility of caring for orphaned siblings and working to support their families in the place of sick parents, often meaning they are forced to leave school.

Feminisation of the epidemic also stands to increase the number of children infected with HIV through mother-to-child transmission. Globally, on average 35% of babies born to HIV positive women will be infected with HIV, either via the placenta during pregnancy; at the time of delivery; or through breast-feeding. Many children born to HIV positive women also stand to lose their mothers to AIDS-related illnesses.

In the Asia Pacific region women and girls represent an increasing proportion of people living with HIV compared with five years ago. In East Asia 22% of adults living with HIV/AIDS are women, while this increases to 28% among young people aged 15 to 24. In South and South-East Asia more than a quarter of adults and 40% of young people living with HIV/AIDS are women. In Papua New Guinea and the Pacific heterosexual sex is the dominant mode of HIV transmission, with women in Papua New Guinea at least four times more vulnerable to infection than men.

In Asia, early marriage is a significant risk factor affecting the spread of HIV/AIDS among girls and young women. Around 30% of girls in Asia are married before the age of 15, and 62% before 18, often with much older husbands. In many Asian countries husbands represent the primary source of infection for women. Other factors contributing to rising HIV prevalence among women include poverty, trafficking, sex work, migration, a lack of education, and gender discrimination and violence.

To respond to this issue, Australia is working with partner countries in the Asia-Pacific on programs to improve women's and girls' access to education, assisting prevention and treatment services and redressing violence against women.

All AusAID projects take into account gender sensitivities in design, implementation and monitoring. In Papua New Guinea AusAID has commissioned a study on violence against women and undertaken specific research on sexual behaviour in settlements around Goroka. AusAID also supports networks between national women's groups throughout Papua New Guinea and has intensified efforts to change male attitudes on violence towards women.

More generally in the Pacific Australia supports training of teachers, doctors and nurses in gender sensitive STI/HIV counselling and provision of sexual and reproductive health services. Australia also supports the Fiji Women's Crisis Centre which in turn supports other organisations in the Pacific through its Regional Training Program.

In Asia, Australian funding helps local organisations to provide services for female sex workers and safe-sex educational programs for men in highly mobile professions. In China Australia supports HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention programs in some detention centres and prisons for women.