On 5 October 2021, W4GF organised a webinar on the Global Partnership to Eliminate all forms of HIV-related Stigma and Discrimination (The Global Partnership) and how it connects to the Global Fund. 53 people participated.
This was organised in partnership with the Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+) and UNAIDS, to build on Global Partnership commitments and connections to influence national programmes and services funded by the Global Fund and others.
This webinar showed that gender dynamics are important and that more action is required to address stigma and discrimination as persistent barriers to accessing prevention, testing and treatment services for many women and girls especially those from key affected populations.
The needs and priorities of girls and women are central to the goals of the Global Partnership and to the Global Fund. Reducing and ending HIV-related stigma and discrimination is impossible without addressing gender-related stigma and discrimination. And we see this in many different areas of life – for example:
- Only 55% of women who are married or in a relationship make decisions about their sexual and reproductive health and rights.
- 40 countries have no legislation to address domestic violence and fewer than 40% of women globally who experience violence seek help of any sort. All of this made worse by COVID
- Women living with HIV who experience or fear intimate partner violence are significantly less likely to start, or adhere to antiretroviral therapy
- Women are at higher risk for prosecution in countries where non-disclosure of HIV status is criminalized; age of consent and spousal consent laws – All of which are compounded by HIV and all this experienced more acutely for women who are engage in sex work and who use drugs.
Access to recording and slides
Listen to the webinar and access all the presentations in the links below
- What is the reality for women (Olive Edwards, Jamaican Community of Positive Women, Jamaica)
- Why this Partnership? (Simone Salem, UNAIDS)
- Where and how is this work happening? (Sasha Volgina, The Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+)
- What is the Global Fund’s role and how is this work directly supporting women’s rights? (Ralf Jurgens, Global Fund)
Key documents
Here are the documents discussed on the webinar related to the Global Partnership and the Global Fund:
- Don’t miss our latest information note on What the Global Partnership is and why women need to know about it (October 2021)
- Global Fund’s guidance on ensuring that programs to remove human rights-related barriers to HIV, TB and malaria services are gender responsive and gender transformative. (April 2021)
- Evidence for eliminating HIV-related stigma and discrimination – Guidance for countries to implement effective programmes to eliminate HIV-related stigma and discrimination in six settings (UNAIDS 2020)
- Addressing stigma and discrimination in the COVID-19 response Applying the evidence of what works from HIV-related stigma and discrimination in six settings to the COVID-19 response (UNAIDS 2020)
- The Global Partnership to Eliminate all forms of HIV-related Stigma and Discrimination (UNAIDS 2018)
- PLHIV Stigma Index 2.0 (2018). See the GNP+ website for more information
- The seven key programs to reduce stigma and discrimination and increase access to justice (UNAIDS 2012)
Connect and find out more
Find out more about how women are being engaged in your country. More information about GNP+’s work with the Global Partnership is available on its website. You can also reach out to the contacts below to find out more about how women can engage in this work.
- Project Coordinator: Sasha Volgina
- Project Assistant & Focal Point African Anglophone region: Consolata Opiyo
- Regional coordinators and support – Focal Points
- Asia Pacific: Harry Prabowo
- Africa (Francophone): Ibrahima Ba
- Eastern Europe and Central Asia Valeria Rachinskaya
- Latin America and the Caribbean: Elena Reynaga