Response on ActionAid's 'Invisible women' campaign

March 2008

Thank you for your letter to Douglas Alexander about women and HIV and AIDS. I am replying as the Minister who leads on the issues raised.

I share your concerns and I hope you welcomed the participation of the Department for International Development (DFID) at the launch of the ActionAid / Voluntary Service Overseas Walking the Talk report on women’s rights and HIV and AIDS, in November 2007.

The UK Government has a strong track record, both at a policy and programme level, of recognising the importance of gender when developing our response to the AIDS epidemics. Taking Action, the current UK strategy for tackling HIV and AIDS in the developing world, places women, young people and vulnerable groups at its heart. It is important to give them control over their own lives through reducing violence and increasing their access to AIDS and sexual and reproductive health services, education, employment and social protection.

DFID is presently updating Taking Action(1.3 mb) following a public consultation. Promoting women’s rights and access to essential services will continue to be central to the updated strategy and we will certainly consider all the issues you raise.

Women are disproportionately affected by HIV and AIDS both because of their unequal status in society and because their physiology makes them more vulnerable to HIV infection. Many women and girls do not have access to essential information and services, lack the social and economic power to control key aspects of their lives, are faced with violence and discrimination and carry the burden of care for those affected by AIDS, including orphans.

AIDS is having the greatest impact in sub-Saharan African, where young women and girls are particularly vulnerable to HIV infection – 15-24 year olds are 3 times more likely to be HIV positive than their male counterparts. But the widening impact on women is also apparent in South and South-East Asia and in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

HIV and AIDS services must be responsive to women’s specific needs and be better integrated with sexual and reproductive health and rights services, including family planning and ante-natal health care. Women must be empowered to act on their own behalf to access these services. And health systems must be strengthened to provide appropriate prevention, treatment and care for people living with HIV. Reducing the impact of the epidemic on women and girls will require efforts in all these areas. DFID will continue to work with its partners to ensure this is the case.

We are also supporting the development of programmes that will ensure that financial and other support is made directly to families living with HIV and AIDS. These programmes are demonstrating that improvements in nutrition as well as access to education and health services can be achieved with comparatively small daily cash transfers to women and families. These interventions help reduce the impact of AIDS on households and reduce the burden on women.

I hope this is helpful.

Yours sincerely,

Gillian Merron
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development

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