Background

Violence against women interacts with the HIV epidemic in many ways, all to the detriment of women:

• Women can be infected with the HIV virus through forced sex, The chances of a woman contracting HIV via a forced sexual encounter are probably increased since forced sex often involves trauma and tissue tearing which can provide an open door to the virus.
• Sexual abuse in childhood (a form of VAW) is associated with risk-taking behavior later in life, increasing an individual’s lifetime risk of contracting HIV.
• Violence and fear of violence can prevent a woman, even one in a consensual union, from insisting on condom use or refusing unwanted sex. Since condom use and abstinence are currently the only dependable and widely available means of avoiding HIV infection, this leaves women with no means of protecting themselves.
• Fear of violence, stigma, and abandonment can dissuade women from learning their HIV-infection status – or, if they do learn it, from sharing it with their partners.
• Since violence can affect women’s willingness to be tested, it can also have a detrimental effect on HIV control, treatment, and prevention of mother to child transmission programmes.

Setting the Agenda

A meeting convened by GWH in 2000 brought together researchers, activists and policy makers working in the area of violence against women and HIV/AIDS to discuss current research, gaps in knowledge, opportunities for integrating issues of VAW in work on HIV/AIDS and vice versa and related methodological, ethical and safety issues. The papers presented at the meeting, a summary of discussions and a proposed research agenda are compiled in the meeting report:

Violence Against Women and HIV/AIDS: Setting the Research Agenda [pdf 763kb]

Gender Dimensions of HIV Status Disclosure

HIV voluntary counseling and testing and (VCT) serves as a critical prevention and treatment tool to control the HIV epidemic. It can reduce risk behaviours among individuals at risk for HIV, reduce mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS, and offers the opportunity to identify HIV-infected individuals and direct them into treatment programmes. One emphasis is placed on the importance of HIV status disclosure among HIV-infected clients, particularly to their sexual partners.

GWH has released a review paper which synthesizes the current information available on HIV status disclosure among HIV-infected individuals, with a particular emphasis on women's experiences.

Gender Dimensions of HIV Status Disclosure to Sexual Partners: Rates, Barriers and Outcomes [pdf 581kb]

An information sheet summarizing the key findings of this document is also available

HIV Status Disclosure to Sexual Partners: Rates, Barriers and Outcomes for Women --WHO Document Summary [pdf 93kb]

Information Briefs

The 2004 campaigns for the 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence and World AIDS Day both highlighted the intersections of violence against women and HIV/AIDS. As part of these campaigns, GWH developed information briefs exploring the critical intersections between violence against women and HIV/AIDS.

Information Brief on Intimate Partner Violence and HIV/AIDS [pdf 208kb]

Summary of Intimate Partner Violence and HIV/AIDS [pdf 302kb]

Information Brief on Sexual Violence in Conflict and HIV/AIDS [pdf 166kb]

Additional information briefs are forthcoming.

Other GWH activities on violence and HIV

Under the broad umbrella of the UNAIDS-initiated 'Global Coalition on Women and AIDS', WHO and the Center for Women's Global Leadership work on the theme of violence against women.

The Global Coalition is a new initiative to raise the visibility of issues related to women, girls and AIDS and lead to concrete, measurable improvements in the lives of women and girls around the world. As part of the Coalition's activities, GWH and the Center for Women's Global Leadership Developed an advocacy poster

Poster on 'Ending Violence Against Women and HIV/AIDS' [pdf 1.55Mb]

More information about gender and HIV infection, is available at the following sites:

GWH gender and HIV/AIDS page

World AIDS Day 2004 Campaign Website

The Global Coalition on Women and AIDS Website

Center for Women's Global Leadership (CWGL) website