Gender and HIV/AIDS Web Portal

[Guest guest]

Dear friends,

In case you haven't seen this web portal yet, it might be of interest and use.

Best wishes, Anasuya

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LAUNCH OF FIRST COMPREHENSIVE GENDER AND

HIV/AIDS WEB PORTAL

New Communication Tool Advances UNIFEM and UNAIDS

Commitment to Reversing Epidemic

UNITED NATIONS, New York A new gender and HIV/AIDS web

portal launched today, will provide researchers,

policy-makers and practitioners access to cutting edge

information at their fingertips. Developed by the United

Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), in

collaboration with the Joint United Nations Programme

on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the portal is a one-stop online

resource center on the gender dimensions of the HIV/AIDS

epidemic.

Globally, 50 per cent of adults living with HIV/AIDS are

women. The epidemic disproportionately affects women and

adolescent girls who are socially, culturally, biologically

and economically more vulnerable, and who shoulder the

burden of caring for the sick and dying.

UNIFEMs Executive Director, Noeleen Heyzer, in announcing

the launch of the portal, stressed the importance of placing

gender equality at the very core of the fight against HIV/AIDS.

We must do all we can to loosen and remove the grip of this

terrible disease. I believe that one of the most powerful

HIV vaccines available today is women=92s empowerment. By

bringing knowledge and information to the global community,

we are able to empower women. Womens empowerment is the key

to reversing the epidemic.

Piot, UNAIDS Executive Director, welcomed the creation

of the web portal. Women make up half the worlds HIV epidemic,

but bear a much higher proportion of its burden. They continue

to provide most of the care for families and children, but are

often last in line to receive life-saving care and information

for themselves. This online resource center is a practical step

forward by UNIFEM and UNAIDS together, designed to help improve

the support for the millions of women around the world living

with HIV and affected by the epidemic, he said.

The web portal will be a constantly evolving, multi-dimensional

and dynamic virtual space that promotes understanding,

knowledge-sharing, and action on HIV/AIDS as a gender and human

rights issue. User-friendly, informative and interactive, the

site offers research, training materials, surveys, advocacy tools,

current news and opinion pieces by leading experts, and women=92s

stories from the field. Plans are also underway to house an

experts database, which will serve as a technical and networking

vehicle for national and global gender and HIV/AIDS specialists.

Please visit the gender and HIV/AIDS web portal at,

http://www.GenderandAIDS.org

For more information about gender and HIV/AIDS web portal

contact: unifem@...