E/2008/27 E/CN.6/2008/11 economic independence, their right to property and inheritance and to protect and promote their full enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms in order to enable them to protect themselves from HIV infection; Urges Governments and other relevant stakeholders to address the 6. challenges faced by older women in accessing HIV prevention, treatment, care and support as well as in caring for people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS, including orphaned grandchildren; Also urges Governments and other relevant stakeholders to address 7. the increased risk of HIV/AIDS facing women and girls with disabilities, ensuring their equal access to prevention, treatment, care and support, as an integral part of their HIV/AIDS response; Emphasizes the need to strengthen policy and programme linkages 8. and coordination between HIV/AIDS and sexual and reproductive health and their inclusion in national development plans, including poverty reduction strategies and sector-wide approaches, where they exist, as a necessary strategy for fighting the HIV/AIDS pandemic and mitigating its impact on the population, which could result in more relevant and cost-effective interventions with greater impact; Urges Governments to strengthen initiatives that would increase the 9. capacities of women and adolescent girls to protect themselves from the risk of HIV infection, principally through the provision of health care and health services, including for sexual and reproductive health, in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, and that integrate HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, care and support and include voluntary counselling and testing, including through prevention education that promotes gender equality within a culturally and gender-sensitive framework; 10. Urges Governments and other relevant stakeholders to address the situation faced by girls caring for people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS who are often forced to drop out of school; 11. Urges Governments to ensure accessible and affordable procurement of prevention commodities, in particular male and female condoms, to ensure that their supply is adequate and secure as well as to promote the ongoing research for safe and effective microbicides; 12. Reminds States to consider that flexibilities in trade-related intellectual property rights can be used by States, when necessary, to protect public health and address public health crises; 13. Urges Governments to strengthen legal, policy, administrative and other measures for the prevention and elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls, including harmful traditional and customary practices, female genital mutilation, abuse, early marriage and forced marriage, rape, including marital rape, and other forms of sexual violence, battering and trafficking in women and girls, and to ensure that violence against women is addressed as an integral part of the national HIV/AIDS response; 08-29062 25