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Namibian Lutheran Woman Receives Global Award for HIV and AIDS Work World YWCA Summit Focuses on Strategies to Address Rising HIV Infection
NAIROBI, Kenya/GENEVA, 11 July 2007 (LWI) * A Namibian Lutheran woman was among 14 AIDS activists who received a World Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) global award for outstanding leadership in the response to HIV and AIDS.
Anita Isaacs, 48, received the World YWCA Women Leading Change Award, which honors the leadership of community women in HIV and AIDS response.
Isaacs, a member of the Oniimwandi congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (ELCIN) has been actively engaged in initiating support groups and networks of persons living with HIV. She has been advocating for increased access to treatment and services, and bringing to attention the links between HIV and AIDS and violence against women and children. She has also actively promoted the sexual and reproductive rights of positive women.
"I am proud of it. It [gives] me strength so that I can do more," Isaacs told Lutheran World Information (LWI) in an interview in Nairobi, where she was attending the 4 to 7 July International Women's Summit on womenâs leadership on HIV and AIDS. The summit organized by the World YWCA in partnership with the International Community of Women Living with HIV and AIDS and other international organizations, took place in the context of the 1 to 11 July World YWCA Council.
"I [realize] there are people who are seeing what I am doing, who are recognizing me. I have received other awards in Namibia but this is an international one, and being given by the YWCA which is a faith-based organization. That's important."
Womenâs Safety
Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki awarded the prizes to the winners on the summit's opening day. He said emphasis on women's leadership and communities' role in HIV prevention, care and treatment would strengthen the struggle against the pandemic.
"I am optimistic that the emphasis on women leadership will also serve as a wake-up call to all women and girls to take responsibility not only for their safety, but for the safety of others as well. This is because women are the foundation of the family and, indeed of society. Women are peace makers," Kibaki said in his opening speech.
With a participation of over 1,800 delegates, the summit focused on the strategies, skills and partnerships needed to address rising HIV infection rates in women and girls.
Effective Response
Joining the representatives of governments and non-governmental organizations, AIDS groups and business organizations, the United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Dr Asha-Rose Migiro stressed that change must give "more power and confidence to women and girls and transform relations between women and men at all levels of society." She assured participants of her personal commitment and that of the UN system to a full and effective response to HIV.
"If we have learnt one thing over the past 25 years, it is that when we work together with unity of purpose, we can defeat AIDS. But to have real impact, [we] must be guided by two key principles: accountability and a drive to achieve measurable results," said Migiro.
The World YWCA General Secretary Dr Musimbi Kanyoro highlighted women's capacity to change societies, and urged more resources for women.
"One woman can bring change to a family and many women together will bring change to humanity," said Kanyoro, while stressing the task of the conference was to mobilize the collective power of women to reverse the direction of the AIDS pandemic globally. "The response to HIV will not be effective without the leadership of positive women," she added.
New Infections
Antiretroviral therapy has been scaled up to 2.3 million people globally, Dr Peter Piot, UNAIDS executive director told the summit, but for each new person on antiretroviral therapy, the United Nations AIDS agency counted six new infections.
"This points to an urgent need to reassess and revitalize HIV prevention. Among the leadership that is required, women must be at the table whenever AIDS programs are designed, implemented and evaluated," he said.
According to UNAIDS, almost 50 per cent of adults living with HIV are women, with the proportions continuing to grow in every region. Currently, 17.5 million women are living with HIV globally, an increase of over one million within the last two years. The proportion is highest in Sub-Saharan Africa, where almost 60 percent of people living with HIV are women.
The YWCA movement includes more than 25 million women and girls in 125 countries, with a focus on developing leadership to achieve human rights, health, security, dignity, freedom, justice and peace for all people. (766 words)
(Nairobi-based journalist Fredrick Nzwili wrote this article for LWI.)
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