A decade of Women’s voices and positive thinking

[Guest guest]

A decade of Women’s voices and positive thinking

Positive Women Network (PWN+)

Honorable Minister for Labour Mr. Fernandes, presided the National Women’s

Consultation organized by Positive Women Network (PWN+) on the occasion of the

World AIDS Day, to address the increasing need for prevention, treatment and

care of women living with HIV and their children.

He stressed that National Council on AIDS headed by the Prime Minister of India,

is giving importance to the issues faced by women living with HIV AIDS and the

parliamentarian forum for HIV and AIDS is committed to address this through HIV

mainstreaming.

This focuses on providing a healthy environment for women to uphold their

rights. He said quality of women living with HIV can be improved through yoga

and other means of alleviating stress in life along with medical care and

support needs of women.

He also added that while there is support for women living with HIV AIDS, it is

also important to ensure that no more new born becomes HIV positive. He

emphasized that when women are given correct and complete information it always

reaches more number of people in the country. He launched the signature campaign

on ‘prevention for women’ and pledged the complete support for the efforts of

positive women network.

Ms. Anne Stenhammer, Regional Director of UNIFEM encouraged women and

appreciated the vision of Positive women captured in the video released to mark

the 10th year celebration of Positive Women Network.

She appreciated that UNIFEM and PWN+ were natural partners with the development

of women being the center of the core response of both the organizations.

Ms. Anandi Yuvraj, Representative of International Community of Women living

with HIV AIDS highlighted the transmission of HIV among married women and wanted

the National AIDS Program to take a proactive role in HIV in marriage initiative

led by UNAIDS, UNIFEM and UNDP. She also highlighted the compromises that

happen towards women’s issues when networks which highlights both men and

women’s issue and strongly emphasized the need for an exclusive space for women

living with HIV within the National Program.

She also congratulated the concentrated efforts of PWN+ towards Positive

Prevention among Women living with HIV by initiating a signature campaign today

to mark the need for focused prevention with millions of women who are at risk

of acquiring infection from their spouse and their intimate partners who are at

high risk.

PWN+ and its partner networks at state level will have to be involved in

designing meaningful interventions for this initiative.

NACO and UNAIDS co-sponsors must involve women living with HIV/AIDS in all their

policy and programme developments to demonstrate their commitment towards GIPA

and women involvement.

Ms. Kousalya, President of PWN+ says, as women living with HIV, every day is a

World AIDS Day for us. 150 Women gathered here have braved floods, blasts and

HIV AIDS to be here from nook and corner of this country to find and raise the

common voice to the issues of women living with HIV AIDS which is a grave

concern. This being no lesser than any crisis – will policy makers hear our

voice?

As a beginning to an end, Mr. Fernandes inaugurated the ‘WE shop’, an

effort by Positive Women Network to provide socio-economic empowerment for women

living with HIV AIDS.

Please visit

http://picasaweb.google.com/poswonet/PhotosForAIDSINDIAForum

to view the photographs of the event

Media Desk

Positive Women Network

e-mail: <poswonet@...>