Gender and Sexuality
Of the 10,000 new HIV infections that occurred among adults worldwide in 2006, 50 per cent were among women. In sub-Saharan Africa, where HIV transmission is predominantly heterosexual, almost 60 percent of those living with HIV are women (UNAIDS, 2006).
A dramatic rise in HIV prevalence among women is recognized as a consequence of gender inequality. Vulnerability to HIV is also influenced by sexuality. Stigma and discrimination of certain sexual minorities, for example men who have sex with men, leads to their marginalization, violations of human rights, and exclusion from health programs and services.
While gender is a relatively new area of work for ICASO, for many years we have recognized the need to provide greater support to the community sector to better understand the links between HIV and AIDS and gender and sexuality.
ICASO promotes gender equality and gender sensitivity in all its programming. We recently developed “Gender, Sexuality, Rights and HIV”, a new resource for community sector organizations to provide them with the information and issue specific guidance to support rights-based advocacy.
Gender, Sexuality, Rights and HIV 