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A meeting "Stopping the HIV epidemic – young women, girls and HIV in southern Africa. What must be done!" was convened in June 2008 by UNAIDS with the University of Witwatersrand Reproductive Health Research Unit. Three research papers relevant to violence against women were presented: intergenerational sex; sexual violence; and risk perception, knowledge and behaviour. The findings of the meeting were presented at ICASA in December 2008 along with communication material put together by Soul City to engage communities and decision makers. They were published in a special supplement of AIDS that was distributed at ICASA. Hide

The UNAIDS Gender Guidance for National AIDS Responses was distributed to field offices. In November 2008, UNAIDS established a US$3 million dollar window in the UNAIDS Programme Acceleration Fund (PAF) mechanism to assist Joint UN AIDS Teams to catalyze country level action on gender and AIDS, including programming on violence against women and its intersections with HIV. Hide

UNAIDS undertook two reviews focusing on violence against women and AIDS: (1) a review of the gender policies of the three major AIDS financing institutions – the World Bank, the US President’s Emergency Planfor AIDS relief (PEPFAR) and the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) – with a view towards strengthening harmonization and coordination of approaches; and (2) a review of over 50 national strategic plans on AIDS to ascertain the degree to which gender issues were integrated. Hide

UNAIDS participated in several workshops and fora at the International AIDS Society Meeting in Mexico which presented new information on violence against women. Hide

In April 2008, UNAIDS presented “Gender Guidance for National AIDS Responses” to its Programme Coordinating Board (PCB), on strategies to strengthen attention to gender issues within national AIDS programmes, including combating violence against women in the context of AIDS.UNAIDS, together with WHO, completed technical and policy guidance to support the integration of gender issues into national proposals to the Global Fund on AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) for Round 8, with emphasis on better integrating programmes aimed at combating violence against women with AIDS services. Hide

In August 2007, UNAIDS convened a technical consultation on social change communication aimed, among other things, at examining the role of social change communication in HIV prevention, with a specific focus on tackling the drivers of the epidemic. Hide

In collaboration with leading experts at the London School of Tropical Medicine, UNAIDS together with WHO and the Global coalition on women and AIDS developed costing estimates for integrating programmes that address violence against women into national AIDS programmes. Interventions on violence against women were included in the 2007 UNAIDS “Financial Resources Required to Achieve Universal Access to HIV Prevention, Treatment, Care and Support”.The Global Coalition on Women and AIDS has actively provided technical and financial support to regional coalitions of women leaders. The Regional Coalition of First Ladies and Women Leaders of Latin America and the Caribbean Coalition of Women Leaders are working with networks of women living with HIV in putting forward action plans and advocacy campaigns to address gender-based violence. Hide

UNAIDS works closely with its co-sponsors (WHO, UNPFA, UNICEF), and partners (UNIFEM, Amnesty International, the Centre for Women’s Global Leadership, and others) to better understand and document the linkages between violence against women and AIDS. Hide

As one of its key action areas, the Global Coalition on Women and AIDS advocates for strategies to halt violence against women and to address the linkages between violence and HIV transmission and access to services; promotes the right of women to have control over and decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their sexuality, free of coercion, discrimination and violence; and calls for greater action to address gender-based and sexual violence, including in conflict and post-conflict settings. The link between violence against women and HIV has been featured as an important part of UNAIDS advocacy messages and was the subject of the November 2005 Issues Brief for use with policy makers. Hide

On the occasion of International Women’s Day 2007, the United Nations system celebrated with a panel presentation and discussion, exhibition, and film screening on the global theme of ‘Ending impunity for violence against women’. The Executive Secretary of ESCAP and Executive Director of UNAIDS called for universal respect for women’s human rights and an end to all forms of violence against women and impunity. Copies of the Secretary-General’s study were widely distributed. Hide