{"id":8628,"date":"2011-11-29T09:00:29","date_gmt":"2011-11-29T09:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.badreputation.org.uk\/?p=8628"},"modified":"2011-11-29T09:00:29","modified_gmt":"2011-11-29T09:00:29","slug":"world-aids-day-violence-against-women-and-hiv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/badreputation.org.uk\/2011\/11\/29\/world-aids-day-violence-against-women-and-hiv\/","title":{"rendered":"World AIDS Day: Violence against women and HIV"},"content":{"rendered":"

World AIDS Day<\/strong> is coming up, and loyal readers will remember Miranda\u2019s shoutout<\/a> last year about why HIV and AIDS is a feminist issue. I\u2019m not going to try and tour all the issues around women and HIV and AIDS, partly because that\u2019s WAY too big for a blog post, but also because I\u2019m not an expert. If that\u2019s what you\u2019re after, this fantastic resource<\/a> on women, HIV and AIDS from Avert<\/strong> has lots of great information and clear explanations.<\/p>\n

\"Ghanaian<\/a>

Picture CC Terriem, 2011<\/p><\/div>\n

So why am I writing this at all? Over the last nine months I\u2019ve gotten interested in the interactions between violence against women, gender roles and HIV, which I confess is mostly down to my job at Womankind Worldwide<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

It struck me that even though I\u2019ve been working with different organisations tackling violence against women in the UK for years, I don\u2019t remember HIV ever being mentioned. It\u2019s just not something I\u2019d ever really thought about. But then, I had also failed to really think about, you know, the rest of the world. This job has been an eye-opener, and I heartily encourage other feminists in the UK, the US, and Western Europe to look up and see what\u2019s happening in the places you don\u2019t see on TV<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis epidemic unfortunately remains an epidemic of women,\u201d Michel Sidib\u00e9, Executive Director of UNAIDS<\/a> said in 2010. At the end of 2009, women accounted for just over half of all adults living with HIV worldwide. In some areas of the world the proportion is much higher, for example in sub-Saharan Africa it is 60%. High levels of HIV among women in these areas are both caused by and causes of violence against women.<\/p>\n

Violence, HIV and Women’s Health<\/h3>\n

Violence against women (you remember, that really prevalent<\/a> thing that occurs in all countries in the world) interacts with the HIV epidemic in several cheery ways. This paraphrased from a World Health Organisation briefing<\/a>:<\/p>\n