omen, the girl child
W
and human immunodeficiency
virus / acquired
immunodeficiency syndrome
(HIV/AIDS)
Conference on Population and Development, the
Copenhagen Programme of Action, the outcome
documents of the twenty-first, twenty-third and
twenty-fourth special sessions of the General
Assembly, the United Nations Millennium
Declaration, the agreed conclusion of the
Commission on the Status of Women on women
and health, and Commission resolution 44/2.
5. The Commission recalls the internationally agreed
1. Women play a vital role in the social and economic
targets as contained in the documents referred to in
paragraph 4, and suggests that the outcome document of the special session of the General Assembly
on HIV/AIDS should fully integrate a gender perspective, including in any new targets, and focus on
actions needed to achieve existing targets.
development of their countries. It is a profound
concern that by the end of 2000, 36.1 million people
were living with HIV/AIDS, and of those infected,
95 per cent were living in developing countries, and
16.4 million were women. The proportion of women
infected with HIV is increasing and in sub-Saharan
Africa women constitute 55 per cent of all adult HIV
infected, while teenage girls are infected at a rate of
five to six times greater than their male counterparts.
6. The Commission welcomes the Abuja Declaration
on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and other Related
Infectious Diseases, in particular its gender dimension, adopted by the Organization of African Unity
at its Special Summit on HIV/AIDS, held at Abuja,
Nigeria, in April 2001.
2. Full enjoyment by women and girls of all human
rights, civil, cultural, economic, political and social,
including the right to development — which are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated —
is of crucial importance in preventing further spread
of HIV/AIDS. The majority of women and girls do not
fully enjoy their rights, in particular to education, the
highest attainable standard of physical and mental
health and social security, especially in developing
countries. These inequalities begin early in life and
render women and girls more vulnerable in the area
of sexual and reproductive health, thus increasing
their risk and vulnerability to HIV infection and their
disproportionate suffering from the consequences of
the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
7. The Commission notes with appreciation the
efforts of the Joint United Nations Programme on
HIV/AIDS and its co-sponsors, bilateral and multilateral donors, governmental, intergovernmental and
non-governmental organizations in their efforts to
empower women through capacity development
programmes, as well as programmes that provide
women with access to development resources and
strengthen their networks that offer care and support to women affected by HIV/AIDS.
8. The highest level of political commitment to the
empowerment and advancement of women and
to the prevention, research, care and treatment of
sexually transmitted infections, especially HIV/AIDS,
must be secured.
3. Poverty, negative and harmful traditional and customary practices that subordinate women in the
household, community and society render women
especially vulnerable to HIV/STI. Millions of women
and girls lack access and/or have insufficient access
to health care, medication and social support in
general, including in the case of sexually transmitted infections/HIV/AIDS.
9. It is important to fully integrate a gender perspec-
tive in the preparatory process and in the outcome
document of the special session of the General
Assembly on HIV/AIDS, including, inter alia, the full
integration of a gender perspective in any new targets and in actions needed to achieve internationally agreed targets that relate to women, the girl
child and HIV/AIDS as contained in the documents
referred to in paragraph 4 above.
4. The Commission on the Status of Women has taken
into account the recommendations on women, the
girl child and HIV/AIDS as addressed in the following documents: the Beijing Platform for Action,
the Programme of Action of the International
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