WORLD AIDS DAY
Around the World

Rallies and media campaigns around the world forced the AIDS scourge back into the international limelight on World AIDS Day in a bid to maintain awareness of the disease and its dangers. In Bangladesh, thousands marched Saturday for World AIDS Day. Ahmed Farooque of the HIV Programme of Rotary International's Bangladesh chapter said, "To deal with an issue like AIDS, empowerment of women is essential in a country where the literacy rate is low," according to a December 1 Agence France Presse story. In Pretoria, South Africa, traditional healers spoke out against myths which have taken hold, including one that having sex with a virgin will cure AIDS. In Zimbabwe, hundreds banged drums and sang at a Harare rally. In the Ivory Coast capital Abidjan President Laurent Gbagbo received thousands of demonstrators and his wife ceremonially presented him with a condom to demonstrate awareness in a country where one million out of 15 million are HIV positive. Across Asia, governments and activists alike pushed the message, still apparently unheeded by many Asians, that unprotected sex and needle-sharing can kill. Read in: CNN and Associated Press

UNAIDS 2001 Report

On November 28, the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) released its AIDS Epidemic Update 2001. The report revealed that HIV infections are rising faster in Eastern Europe and Central Asia than anywhere else in the world and are 15 times as high as they were three years ago. The New York Times reported on November 29 that UNAIDS found that “250,000 Eastern Europeans and Central Asians were newly infected with HIV; the total is now one million.” In addition, more than 75,000 of the new infections occurred in Russia – much of the increase caused by rising rates of drug addiction and needle sharing. The San Francisco Chronicle reported on November 29 that Dr. Peter Piot, Executive Director UNAIDS said, "HIV/AIDS is unequivocally the most devastating disease we have ever faced, and it will get worse before it gets better.” The report also describes how a few hard-hit countries (Uganda, Thailand, Cambodia) have had modest success in reducing the incidence of AIDS and how others (Australia, Poland) have virtually blocked it, according to a November 29 story by The Washington Post. Selected stories by: New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Washington Post and Associated Press

Campaign Challenging Condom Ban Launched

On November 30, Catholics for a Free Choice (CFFC) launched a global campaign that challenges the Catholic Church’s ban on the use of condoms. A November 30 story in Newsday (Long Island, NY) notes CFFC launched the campaign to coincide with World AIDS Day. It began in Washington, D.C., with an advertising campaign effort that includes 50 bus shelters and 225 subway posters and an ad in The Washington Post. Subsequent ads will appear in Britain, Belgium, South Africa, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Bolivia, Chile, Mexico and the Philippines. A later phase will target cities such as New York, said spokesman Paul Silva. CFFC President, Frances Kissling, was featured in numerous radio and television interviews such as BBC Radio and CNN Headline News. Read in: Newsday and The Daily Telegraph. For more information, go to: Catholics for a Free Choice

Condoms: Shortage and Reluctance

A global shortage of condoms and the continuing reluctance of many men to use them is fuelling a worldwide explosion in HIV/AIDS, said Michael Fox, Senior Technical Director of UNAIDS. He estimates that nine billion condoms a year are supplied to countries around the world but more than twice as many are needed. In a November 29 story by The Independent (London), Bernhard Schwartlander, an epidemiologist who worked on the report, said there are still problems in distribution and in convincing people to use them. "It's not an easy topic for any society but there is a supply problem as well. We really do want to make sure they are used when they are available," he said. Read in: The Independent

In Hlabisa, South Africa, the reluctance of men to use condoms is widespread. A November 29 story by The New York Times reported that the reluctance to use condoms arose in part from the government's slipshod testing practices that made South Africa a dumping ground for substandard foreign condoms. Many tell stories of having one break. "I got one -- a Lucky -- I put it on and saw it was already cracked," said a former schoolteacher. "One of my former students said he used very expensive condoms. He told me, 'You are stupid' for using the government ones. 'You will die,' he said. But already he has died." Culture has also shaped men’s attitudes toward condoms. In Zulu custom, "The woman has no power with the man," the schoolteacher said. Then, explaining the rights he gained by paying the bride price, he added, "Because I paid 11 cows for her, she is supposed to do everything I say." Read in: The New York Times: AIDS and Death Hold No Sting for Fatalistic Men at African Bar and Rare Condoms, Deadly Odds For Truck-Stop Prostitutes

AIDS in Uganda

In June 2001, Ministry of Health AIDS Control Programme released its HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report that found for every one man with AIDS, there are six women with AIDS between the age group of 15 to 19 and 20 to 24. According to a December 4 story disseminated by Africa News, Dr Joshua Musinguzi, an epidemiologist with the Ministry of Health, noted high HIV prevalence among girls is caused in part because "young women at that age have genitals that are not ready for sex,” which increases a girl’s risk for infection. He also mentioned that in many Ugandan cultures, girls at 19 are seen as women and are married off early. "Overall, women are less likely to have access to knowledge and information, education, property and interventions like condoms. Read in: Africa News

In one Ugandan village, Muhabura, change in attitudes about HIV/AIDS is taking place. The Guardian (United Kingdom) featured a December 4 story on Muhabura’s Stepping Stone program that was born out of the realization that simply telling people to abstain from sex, remain faithful to their partners or use a condom was not working. Women were largely powerless or treated as second-class citizens and communities were battling with a host of social problems such as alcohol abuse, rape and teenage pregnancies. Rev. Tusiime, who heads Stepping Stones said while the ultimate goal is to cut HIV, the means is to re-evaluate relationships – and it is males who are under most pressure to reform. Read in: The Guardian

[NOTE: For the latest feature story by PLANetWIRE on World AIDS Day.

SAVING WOMEN’S LIVES
Afghan Women Refugees

In continuing coverage of Afghan women, Time magazine ran a December 3 cover story that looked at how women fared under the Taliban and what the future hold for them. In the “Years of the Whips” section, it noted, “Next to education, women's health suffered the worst consequences of religious rule. The life expectancy of Afghan women now is just 44 years. There are 17 maternal deaths per 1,000 live births, the second worst rate in the world, just behind war-ravaged Sierra Leone. The statistics only hint at what medical care for women is like in a nation where a male doctor is not allowed to give a thorough physical examination to a female patient.” Read in: Time

At the three-day conference in Bonn titled, “Preparing for Afghanistan’s Reconstruction,” participants were urging all parties not to forget the human factors while Afghanistan's future was being debated. In an interview with Agence France Presse on November 28, an Afghan nurse who went by the name Aziade said, “To rebuild my country, the bodies and souls of my people will need to be mended first.” Another participant, Abdul Salam Rahimy, an official of Civil Humanitarian Assistance (CHA), a non-governmental organization working in western and southern Afghanistan, said, "Reconstruction of the health sector is urgent." Dr Mohamed Jama, regional coordinator of the World Health Organization, said that "One of the most important things in reconstruction is to save and improve lives.” Read about Dr. Sima Samar, one of two women named in the six-month transitional Cabinet in a December 7 story by the Associated Press.

On November 17, Laura Bush used the President's usual Saturday radio address to speak about the oppression of Afghan women under the Taliban. The New York Times reported on November 16: "By drawing attention to their oppression, we can hopefully help them get important new rights under the new government," said James Wilkinson, a deputy communications director at the White House. The Times also noted that women's rights advocates, who have pressured the government for years to do something about the Taliban's treatment of women, reacted positively, even as some questioned why it had taken so long. Eleanor Smeal, president of The Feminist Majority, said her organization "absolutely agreed" with the administration's campaign, and that she would continue to press the White House to insist that women be at the negotiating table. Read in: New York Times

International Violence Against Women Day

November 25 marked International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women in Latin America and the Caribbean. Inter Press Service reported November 23 that women’s groups in the region will extend their activities through December 10, the United Nations’ Human Rights Day. Aggression against women involves rape, incest, forced sterilization or abortion, or sexual harassment and mistreatment in the workplace - all problems that experts say are rooted in the unequal relationship between male and female populations. A study by the National University of Costa Rica stated that over the last 10 years, domestic and sexual violence in the region has caused more deaths among women than AIDS or malaria, and is comparable to the number of deaths resulting from complications in pregnancy or birth. The problem's lack of visibility as a public health matter often means it is relegated to mere police statistics, something women's organizations are attempting to change through this campaign.

OPINIONS AND EDITORIALS

In recent opinion pieces, many commentators have insisted on an equal role for women in Afghanistan’s future. Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) wrote in the December 3 issue of Time magazine, “President and Mrs. Bush have properly highlighted the mistreatment of Afghan women by the Taliban and insist that women play a role in Afghanistan's future.” Clinton also noted, “We can help in Congress by completing our work on legislation to provide educational and health care assistance to Afghan women and children and promote the training of women to aid in the development of democracy and a civil society.” In Judy Mann’s November 23 column in The Washington Post, she concluded, “Education for women and girls and economic power for them through foreign aid must be the centerpiece of our reconstruction efforts.” Read in: Time and The Washington Post

A November 25 opinion piece by Robyn Blumner in the St. Petersburg Times (FL) said, “If the Bush administration wants us to believe it is waging war in part to raise the status of women, we need to look at how much concern the administration has given women's equality issues in other parts of the world.” One of several places Blumner highlighted where Bush falls short is “the blithe way he has traded access to reproductive health services for poor and subjugated women throughout the world for domestic political points” – reinstating the Global Gag Rule. Blumner concluded that the United States “doesn't just ignore issues of women's equality around the world, it gets in the way. Which leads me to think that the administration's campaign for justice for Afghan women is more propaganda than commitment and, in the long run, won't amount to a hill of beans.” Read in: St. Petersburg Times

See also the letters and op ed raising concerns about foreign aid and Laura Bush’s role to improve women’s rights by Marilyn Goldstein, communications consultant of Planned Parenthood of Nassau County; Ellen Sweet, Vice President of Women’s Health Coalition; and Amy Pollack, President of EngenderHealth; at: Newsday, The New York Times and The Philadelphia Daily News, respectively.

In preparation for World AIDS Day, The Washington Post ran a November 29 op ed by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. In it, he stressed, “It is clear that we have the road map, the tools and the knowledge to fight AIDS. What we must sustain now is the political will. Life after Sept. 11 has made us all think more deeply about the kind of world we want for our children. It is the same world we wanted on Sept. 10 -- a world in which a child does not die of AIDS every minute.” Read in: The Washington Post

A December 4 editorial in The Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN) noted women in Uganda have been hanging their condoms out to dry not because they're ignorant, but because condoms are so hard to come by in southern Africa, they're forced to experiment with recycling. The U.N. Population Fund estimates the amount needed for AIDS-fighting condoms is rising above $1 billion. But international funding for condoms has been dropping for several years – from $68 million in 1996 to just $40 million annually in 1999 and 2000. The editorial concludes, “This may be the ultimate in penny-wise, pound-foolish thinking, and the world's wealthy nations should call a halt to it now. No one should die for want of a condom worth a few cents.” Read in: The Star Tribune

Opinion pieces on the UNFPA’s the State of World Population 2001 continued to be placed in: The Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, TX) by editorial writer Jack Smith and The Deseret News (Salt Lake City, UT): U.S. Funding for Family Planning Pays Off by Karrie Galloway, President of Planned Parenthood of Utah, and Unity Leads to a Better World by Annette Cumming, Vice President of the Cumming Foundation and member of the U.S. Committee for the United Nations Population Fund.

The above analysis was written by Elena M. H. Cabatu and Kathy Bonk at the Communications Consortium Media Center, 1200 New York Avenue, NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20005, 202/326-8700.

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