Women leadership vital for addressing barriers in ...

Women leadership vital for addressing barriers in the fight against HIV

Audrey Galawu

The global debt crisis and pandemics are reducing investment in education, health, and social protection, disproportionately affecting women and girls.

Unequal access to education has reportedly left 122 million girls out of school, denying them lifesaving information on how to protect themselves from HIV.

UNAids country director Jane Kalweo said addressing legal and policy environments and other barriers that limit women’s political participation is crucial to levelling the playing field.

To foster more just and equitable societies, they need to advance the agenda of proportional representation for men and women in parliament.

Given that women face a disproportionate burden of HIV, Kalweo believes women leadership would significantly contribute to legal and policy reforms that address gaps and barriers in the HIV continuum of care for women and children.

“The unprecedented disruption to education during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated inequalities in access to education for girls. School closures and economic hardships increased the risk of child marriages as families sought to alleviate financial burdens. In 2021, during the Covid-19 pandemic, 1174 cases of child marriages were recorded, and 4959 girls became pregnant.

“The SDG of ending Aids by 2030 is also at risk. Every week in 2022, 4000 adolescent girls and young women aged 15-24 became infected with HIV globally, largely due to inequalities in accessing HIV services. When girls’ rights to education and empowerment are realised, their vulnerability to HIV is reduced. In Zimbabwe, HIV incidence among adolescent girls and young women is more than three times higher than among their male counterparts.

“Many factors increase the vulnerability of girls and young women, including harmful gender norms such as gender-based violence, gender inequalities that exclude them from economic opportunities, and poverty. The Zimbabwean government, through the Zimbabwe National HIV and AIDS Strategic Plan IV Addendum, has committed to reducing inequalities to less than 10% of women and girls experiencing gender-based inequalities and gender-based violence in efforts to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030,” she said.

Despite many challenges, women in Zimbabwe have been at the forefront of driving change and leading in the HIV response since the beginning of the pandemic.

However, Kalweo noted that funding shortages, capacity gaps, and regulatory environments limit women’s ability to effectively contribute to the agenda of ending Aids by 2030 and there is a need for sustained investment in independent, autonomous feminist movements.

“Progress can only be sustained by putting power in the hands of those whose lives are most impacted by the denial of rights. The health of young women and girls today is too often shaped by gender-based inequalities and gender-based violence, which increases the risk of HIV infection.

“One in three women worldwide experience sexual or gender-based violence. Gender-based violence remains one of the most pervasive human rights violations affecting women in Zimbabwe. The ZDHS 2015 estimates that one in three women aged between 15 and 49 has experienced physical violence, and one in four women have experienced sexual violence. Addressing gender inequality and gender-based violence is critical to ending Aids and accelerating progress towards achieving the SDGs.

“UNAids Commends the Government of Zimbabwe for showing its commitment to ending gender-based violence through the 2023-2030 National Strategy to Prevent and Address Gender-Based Violence. The strategy highlights priority areas for the country and outlines specific actions and strategies for the government and society in their efforts to prevent and respond to GBV in general, and violence against women and girls in particular,” she added.

Prevalence rates for child marriages in Zimbabwe remain unacceptably high, with an estimated 34% of girls who are married before reaching 18 years, and 5% before the age of 15.

As we commemorate International Women’s Day, UNAids reiterates the need to empower women, combat HIV, advance rights, and position women at the centre of HIV response, Human rights, and empowerment.