IV. GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS ADOPTED BY
THE COMMITTEE ON THE ELIMINATION OF
DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN
Ninth session (1990)*
General recommendation No. 15: Avoidance of discrimination against
women in national strategies for the prevention and control of acquired
immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)
The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women,
Having considered information brought to its attention on the potential effects of both the
global pandemic of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and strategies to control it on
the exercise of the rights of women,
Having regard to the reports and materials prepared by the World Health Organization and
other United Nations organizations, organs and bodies in relation to human immunodeficiency
virus (HIV), and, in particular, the note by the Secretary-General to the Commission on the
Status of Women on the effects of AIDS on the advancement of women and the Final Document
of the International Consultation on AIDS and Human Rights, held at Geneva from 26 to 28 July
1989,
Noting World Health Assembly resolution WHA 41.24 on the avoidance of discrimination
in relation to HIV-infected people and people with AIDS, of 13 May 1988, resolution 1989/11 of
the Commission on Human Rights on non-discrimination in the field of health, of 2 March 1989,
and in particular the Paris Declaration on Women, Children and AIDS, of 30 November 1989,
Noting that the World Health Organization has announced that the theme of World Aids
Day, 1 December 1990, will be “Women and Aids”,
Recommends:
(a) That States parties intensify efforts in disseminating information to increase public
awareness of the risk of HIV infection and AIDS, especially in women and children, and of its
effect on them;
(b) That programmes to combat AIDS should give special attention to the rights and
needs of women and children, and to the factors relating to the reproductive role of women and
their subordinate position in some societies which make them especially vulnerable to HIV
infection;
(c) That States parties ensure the active participation of women in primary health care
and take measures to enhance their role as care providers, health workers and educators in the
prevention of infection with HIV;
(d) That all States parties include in their reports under article 12 of the Convention
information on the effects of AIDS on the situation of women and on the action taken to cater to
the needs of those women who are infected and to prevent specific discrimination against women
in response to AIDS.
*
Contained in document A/45/38.