Women, kids bear HIV brunt
Mon, August 4, 2008
Women, kids bear HIV brunt
Canadian experts call for ‘gender equality’ in AIDS war
By Kevin Connor
http://torontosun.com/News/World/2008/08/04/6346716-sun.html
A new UN report says 80% of governments spent only half their allocated women’s funding on women’s issues.
More people are concerned about global warming than the AIDS holocaust, Lewis said.
"The most important battle is gender equality (and children’s rights). I am worried about climate change …has the capacity to do two things at a time," Lewis said.
He says some progress fighting HIV/AIDS has been made since AIDS 2006.
"There has been a lot of movement in keeping treatment alive. We have gone from treating one million to three million (since AIDS 2006) but the children are still being neglected which is appalling," Lewis said.
"That may change this year, because this year for the first time there will be a special session for children … which is appalling."
Fewer than 10% of the children who have HIV/AIDS world-wide were receiving treatment in 2006.
"Whether we move forward after this conference, well I don’t know … there are problems," Lewis said.
UN statistics say that in June of this year, 2,000 women reported being raped in a northern Congo province and the rapes were so violent that the new medical term — vaginal destruction — was created.
At AIDS 2006, there were conferences that were criticized that dealt with drugs and foams that could prevent HIV transmission if taken before sex. The criticism was that a rapist isn’t going to wait for his victim to medicate herself.
Although Lewis used to work for the UN, he has no problem criticizing the organization.
"The UN AIDS universal drug access target for 2010 has shifted towards 2015. I would never of approved of something like that," Lewis said.
He said he is disgusted that the tens of thousands of UN peacekeepers have made no progress in reducing the amount of rapes and HIV spread.
22,000 DELEGATES
"We need an agency for women like what UNICEF does for kids," Lewis said.
There are 22,000 delegates — including scientists, AIDS doctors, non-government organizations and activists — attending AIDS 2008 until Aug. 8.
Last night the delegates held an opening ceremony.
AIDS is the No. 1 killer of women in Toronto and the majority are homeless, said Ruthann Tucker with the Ontario HIV Treatment Network.
"Canada needs to assist other countries, but it has a lot to do to help these (local) women and provide adequate housing. If you are not adequately housed, you can’t maintain complex drug treatments and you will die sooner," Tucker said.
The Blueprint for Action on Women and Girls and HIV/AIDS says Canada receives as poor of a grade as some African countries when it comes to preventing girls and women against HIV/AIDS.
Even women in Canada fear revealing their status because stigma and discrimination is rampant and can lead to violence, said Blueprint’s Louise Bender of Toronto.
She says the government has diverted dozens of millions of dollars from AIDS efforts into other projects.
"What women and girls want in Canada is prevention and education specifically for women and girls, female condoms and more microbicides," Bender said.
Pedro Cahn, president of the International AIDS Society, said that everyone in the world has the right to treatment.
"We need to get out of the darkness and help the communities most neglected - that includes women and children," Cahn said.
"We also have to fight the false idea that AIDS is getting too much money and hurting health care systems. I am worried if the funding stops we will set back the clock."
For the first time in 15 years, the conference will also focus on high-risk groups, such as men who have sex with men, drug users and drug-trade workers.
"We need to reduce drug prices for all people around the world at risk and we need to fight stigma and discrimination," said Luis Soto-Ramirez, co-chairman of the conference.
