Turning the Tide: CEDAW and the Gender Dimensions of the HIV/AIDS Pandemic

Author/Editor(s): Lee Waldorf

Today, 37.8 million people are infected with HIV/AIDS worldwide: 17 million of them are female. 48% of all adults living with HIV are women, up from 35% in 1985.  Yet the situation is even more alarming in sub-Saharan Africa, where women make up 57% of those living with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The numbers are startling. And without AIDS strategies that specifically focus on women, there can be no global progress in fighting the disease.

"Turning the Tide: CEDAW and the Gender Dimensions of the HIV/AIDS Pandemic" contributes to understanding how the world's foremost blueprint for women's human rights can be put to work to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic from a gender perspective. Various aspects of the pandemic are discussed, such as gender-based violence, sexual exploitation, access to health services, gender inequality and safer sex, and issues of care and care-giving

Within each chapter, "Turning the Tide" discuss the inherent problems that exist and broaden the knowledge gap.  Women and girls often have limited information about HIV/AIDS, are often shunned by their families and communities, and frequently lack information about the risk HIV transmission during childbirth.  Unfortunately, economic dependence and fear of violence can lead women to unprotected sex.

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) sets specific standards about women's rights and "Turning the Tide" clarifies these standards as they apply to preventing HIV/AIDS in women. Women need to know their rights in order to protect their health and governments and organizations working with women need to know the international standards for women's rights guaranteed by CEDAW.

"Turning the Tide" clarifies these rights. It is an invaluable resource for groups and organizations working in the area of HIV/AIDS. Implementing CEDAW is crucial to stopping the HIV/AIDS pandemic.