WAD India
CYDA tell us about activities they are organising for World AIDS Day 2007 in India.
All Female Assembly on WOMEN & LEADERSHIP
World AIDS Day, 1 December 2007
The Centre for Youth Development Activities (CYDA), in Pune, India, will mark World AIDS Day 2007, in association with the Commonwealth Foundation and other partner organisations, by organizing an Assembly of women's representatives from nine districts of the state of Maharashtra. A large number of other civil society members will also join the assembly to assert women's leadership in the fight against HIV and AIDS.
The organisers feel that the denial of the right to participate in decision-making processes makes women vulnerable to various forms of prejudices and inequalities throughout their lives. HIV and AIDS is the latest problem to be added which is being fuelled by the increasing lack of decision-making power among women to negotiate safer sex or condom use. Unequal treatment and increased vulnerability make women hapless victims of HIV and AIDS.
The Mayor of Pune, Ms. Rajalakshmi Bhosale, will inaugurate the event. Activists, academics and other participants in the Assembly will have the valuable opportunity to share experiences and views. This will provide important guidance for the future direction of action on HIV and AIDS.
It is a confirmed fact that gender discrimination continues to be an enormous problem within Indian society. Traditional patriarchal norms have relegated women to secondary status within the household and workplace. This affects women's health, financial status, education, and political involvement.
According to UNAIDS more than 17.7 billon women are living with HIV and AIDS. Women account for 42 % of the total population in the world suffering from AIDS. Worldwide the risk of HIV for women is increasing. Every day, approximately 5,500 women are newly infected with HIV, and more than 3,000 die from AIDS related illnesses. In most parts of the world HIV infection is increasing faster among women than men.
The Assembly of girls and women will draw attention to the need to foster women's leadership and empowerment in order to address the concerns of HIV and AIDS, which is not only a health issue but an issue to do with women's lack of decision-making power which fuels women's susceptibility to HIV and AIDS.
Against the backdrop of gender discrimination and its ramifications, as seen in the increasing violence against women and increasing vulnerability of women to HIV and AIDS infection, CYDA felt the need to organize this Women's Assembly in order to highlight these critical issues and to formulate effective solutions.
The program is organized by CYDA in association with the Commonwealth
Foundation. Other partner organisations are:
Abeeda Inamdar College, Pune
Action Aid International
AIDS Alliance Maharashtra
APACHA, India
Astitva Samaj Prabodhan Sanstha, Sangola
Khoj, Amaravati
Janahit Vikas Mandal, Satara
Navchetna Sanstha, Ambejogai
Prakash Shikshan Prasarak Sanstha, Sangli
Rajshree Shau Yuva Mandal Santha, Parbhani
Samaj Vikas Sanstha, Osmanabad
Swayamprerit Samajik Vikas Sanstha, Sangamner
Youth4Change, Maharashtra
