Gsacs dec06

Workshop on Mainstreaming Gender and HIV/, Gandhinagar 17 -18 Dec 2006

AIDS and Gender Community on Solution Exchange

Mainstreaming Gender and HIVMainstreaming Gender and HIV

Workshop @ Gandhinagar

17 – 18 Dec 2006



Brief Profile [aids-se]

• Launched in October 2005

• Total Solution Exchange Subscriptions - 12121 AIDS Community (aids-se) - 2437

• Issued 43 Consolidated Replies to-date (Cross-posted about 8 queries across four CoPs of Solution Exchange)

• Regional Workshops conducted in Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Kerala







Brief Profile [se-gen]

• Launched in August 2005

• Total Solution Exchange Subscriptions - 12121 Gender Community (se-gen) - 1311

• Issued 30 Consolidated Replies to-date (Cross-posted 14 queries across all CoPs of Solution Exchange)

• Regional Workshops conducted in Lucknow, Hyderabad and Kolkatta



Membership by Organization Type - Gender

(Private Sector)

(Multi/Bi laterals)



Membership by Region - Gender



Consolidated Reply on Mainstreaming HIV Query: Zilla Parishads and Mayors in HIV Response

• Experiences of initiatives undertaken for awareness generation among Zilla Parishad/Block Panchayat and Gram Panchayat leaders and Mayors/Urban Local Body representatives or general population, and lessons that can be derived there from.

• Tools developed for training local body representatives and creating awareness among them.



Zilla Parishad: Responses

• Experiences of working with local self-government representatives on HIV awareness at the Zilla, Block and village levels

• Provided tools developed for conducting HIV awareness and training program




• Vertical prevention programs are unsuitable for a country like India where socio-cultural and political differences exist

• HIV mitigation efforts need addressing at a local, social level, thus requiring community participation




• Elected leaders are generally receptive and respond positively to the issue of HIV, but are hesitant to accept that HIV affects their communities

• Involving a ‘Positive Speaker’ in sensitization programs helps to garner support for HIV positive persons in the community




• BanglaNatak.Com uses theatre-based workshops to sensitize local self-government representatives on HIV.

• Kerala SACS successfully used a former mayor to conduct training on HIV, outlining the type of role elected representatives can play in mainstreaming HIV and removing stigma and discrimination.




• Bihar SACS conducted one-day training programs with Gram Panchayat heads emphasizing technical inputs and role clarification

• Theater games, street plays, role-playing, and ventriloquist shows create an environment where people feel relaxed, help build awareness, and aid in overcoming linguistic and cultural barriers




• Argument for a wider inclusion of Participatory Rural Appraisal and related methodologies through the existing Panchayati Raj institutions for health care decentralization and implementation

• Sustain decentralization of health policy by a methodology that would enhance public accountability in governance



Zilla Parishad: Conclusion

• Building HIV awareness among local self-government representatives by providing proper orientation would encourage them to develop effective solutions based on their local situations

• Recommend engaging in similar interventions with other local groups like political, religious and cultural organizations, already working at the grassroots level



Query: Women and HIV

• How do we reach out and create awareness among women between the ages of 15 and 29, living in extremely difficult and marginal circumstances?

• What redefined roles of the government, peer educators and family members will help women attain empowerment leading to Gender equity?

• How can Family members provide full support in areas such as access to HIV information, check ups for STI, female condoms, VCCTC, ARV and inheritance?



Responses: Women and HIV

• Emphasised the need for a change at the macro or societal level to make a difference in the life of an individual woman

• Highlighted the pivotal role played by CBOs and NGOs working at the grassroots in reaching out and educating the women

• Information about HIV does not reach young girls and women




• Schools could start giving education on HIV and AIDS at an early age

• Recommended peers and self-help group as well as linking up with various antenatal clinics for awareness about HIV

• inter-personal approach to provide information on HIV as sex is usually a taboo topic

• first establish trust and raise awareness about general and specific health concerns since health is not a priority



Responses: Women and HIVExamples of using CBO network for women empowerment

• Positive People, Goa conducts participatory training workshops with rural women, through Anaganwadi workers and Mahila Mandals on HIV.

• Bangla Natak.com and CHARCA use theatre as a tool to reach out, reduce the vulnerability, and increase the capacity of young women to protect themselves against STI and HIV.




• Andhra Pradesh Government launched a AIDS Awareness and sustained holistic action where trained Mandal Resource Persons impart training to 100,000 village resource persons on women issues and their vulnerability to HIV

• Improving empowerment of women through education and employment is an urgent need

• Promote CBOs of positive women and support their income generation activities

• Train HIV positive women in marketable skills to make them self-reliant




• Laws such as Immoral Traffic Prevention Act, religious fundamentalism, privatization of the heath sector and health sector reforms have adversely affected women as both consumers as well as caregivers since it has reduced their access to affordable quality care services

• Create legal assistance units at the block and district levels, counselling and crisis intervention centers as well as forum for redressal




• Place issue of Women living with HIV at the heart of the struggle against gender-based violence to address the structural factors that make women vulnerable to HIV.

• Involves sensitizing the Government on the right to care and support services.

• Government must facilitate economic independence for women, empower women with HIV for decision making on funds disbursement, punish stigmatization and violence



Conclusion: Women and HIV

• Have brain storming sessions with grass root level organizations, FBOs, other like-minded individuals and organizations chaired by the local SACS to discuss the various issues related to reaching out to vulnerable women and empowerment of HIV positive women

Health & Medicine

Gsacs dec06