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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Karen S. Leiter, JD, MPH¹, Sheri D. Weiser, MD, MPH², Michele Heisler, MD, MPA³, Fiona Percy-de Korte, DPH¹, Sonya DeMonner, MPH¹, Zakhe Hlanze, MA⁴, Nthabiseng Phaladze, PhD⁵, David Tuller¹, and Vincent Iacopino, MD, PhD¹. (1) Physicians for Human Rights, 2 Arrow Street, Suite 301, Cambridge, MA 02138, 617.301.4217, kleiter@phrusa.org, (2) Epidemiology and Prevention Interventions Center, University of California, San Francisco, POB 1372, San Francisco, CA 94110, (3) Division of General Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, VA HSR & D, PO Box 130170, Ann Arbor, MI 48113, (4) Women and Law in Southern Africa Research Trust - Swaziland, Portuguese Club, 1st Floor Commercial Road, Mbabane, Swaziland, (5) Department of Nursing Education, University of Botswana, Private Bag 0022, Gaborone, Botswana

Issues: In Sub-Saharan Africa, the global region most affected by HIV/AIDS, the majority of new infections are contracted by young women through heterosexual intercourse. Although supporters of the widely disseminated US policy advising abstinence, being faithful to one partner and condom use, known as “ABC,” have attributed reduced prevalence in some countries to this approach, a focus on individual behavior has seen little success elsewhere. Likewise, public health interventions targeting women are insufficient to prevent HIV transmission and mitigate the devastating impacts of AIDS.

Description: We present contextual information and data from two population-based studies demonstrating the connections between human rights abuses and women's vulnerability to HIV/AIDS in Botswana and Swaziland. The studies provide evidence that a range of human rights concerns affect HIV status and the impact of AIDS, including lack of food and other resources, lack of control over sexual relationships, inequitable access to testing and treatment and the persistence of HIV-related stigmatizing beliefs and gender-discriminatory attitudes.

Lessons Learned: Gender inequality promotes the conditions that fuel the epidemic. Women's lives are affected not only by intimate partner violence, barriers to education and other gender-identified concerns, but by a wide range of rights abuses. These include food insecurity, economic deprivation and HIV-related discrimination, which translate into lack of control over decision making and threats to life, including HIV/AIDS.

Recommendations: HIV prevention policies must encompass legal and policy reform, popular education, capacity building in civil society and the creation of institutions to comprehensively promote and protect women's human rights.

Learning Objectives: By the end of the session, the participant will be able to

• Identify the range of human rights concerns for women in Botswana and Swaziland;
• Understand the ways human rights abuses create vulnerability to HIV/AIDS among women in these two countries;
• Articulate examples of policies that protect and promote human rights for women in the context of preventing HIV/AIDS.

Keywords: Women and HIV/AIDS, International Health

Related Web page: www.phrusa.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation