Launch of the Global Coalition on Women and AIDS (GCWA)
AIDS is single-handedly slowly destroying entire continents. Because of the biological characteristics of the disease and the role of women in some societies, they are more susceptible to AIDS. The United Nations AIDS program reports that existing HIV prevention and protection efforts are failing to stem infections among women and girls because they do not take into account such issues as gender relations and sexual behaviour. Over 50% of the people infected with AIDS are women.
"Because of their lack of social and economic power, many women and girls are unable to negotiate relationships based on abstinence, faithfulness and use of condoms. It is precisely to address these inequalities and reduce women's vulnerability to HIV that the Global Coalition on Women and AIDS has been created", said Dr Peter Piot, Executive Director of the Joint United Nations program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) at the launch of the new organization.
The goals of the Coalition are to improve prevention for women and girls and to address societal and legal inequalities which compound the impact of HIV and AIDS on women and girls. Notable members of GCWA are British actor Emma Thompson and the former Irish president and UN High Commissioner of Human Rights, Mary Robinson.