Subject: RELEASE: Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton Introduces Legislation to Improve Global Aids Programs For Women And Girls
From: "Clinton, Press Office (Clinton)" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 5 Dec 2007 14:49:47 -0500

Statements & Releases - Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, New York

 

For Immediate Release

December 5, 2007

Contact:

Clinton Press Office (202) 224-2243 or

[email-masked]

SENATOR HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON INTRODUCES LEGISLATION TO IMPROVE GLOBAL
AIDS PROGRAMS FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS

Bill Would Require President to Develop Strategy to Address Women's
Specific Vulnerabilities to HIV

WASHINGTON, DC-Today, Hillary Rodham Clinton introduced the Protection
Against Transmission of HIV for Women and Youth (PATHWAY) Act of 2007,
the Senate companion of legislation introduced by Representative Barbara
Lee. This legislation would require the President to develop and
implement a comprehensive, integrated and culturally relevant global HIV
prevention strategy that addresses the vulnerabilities of women and
girls. It would also strike the requirement that one third of prevention
funding under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief be spent on
abstinence-until-marriage programs.

"Women account for about half of those living with the epidemic
worldwide, and represent more than 60% of those living with HIV and AIDS
in sub-Saharan Africa," Senator Clinton said. "Our government pledged to
prevent seven million new infections through the PEPFAR program, but we
cannot make any progress against this disease unless we address the
circumstances, like gender-based violence, that increase women's
vulnerability to HIV infection. We also must ensure that we use science,
not ideology, to guide our prevention programs, and repeal funding
restrictions that limit the success of activities at the local level."

According to UNAIDS, 33 million people around the world are living with
HIV. Women account for about half of those living with the virus, but in
certain populations, they are disproportionately affected. Among
sub-Saharan African youth aged 15-24-the group which accounts for about
two thirds of all new infections-women account for three out of every
four new infections. Young women are not only getting infected at
greater rates, but they do not have the knowledge to protect themselves.
In studies of youth in 17 countries completed in 2003, more than 75
percent of young women surveyed could not identify ways to protect
themselves from HIV. And the circumstances of women often limit their
ability to prevent HIV infection. According to UNICEF, more than 40
percent of girls in Africa and South Asia are married before their 18th
birthday - meaning that abstinence-until-marriage messages will not
teach them how to protect themselves against HIV.

The PATHWAY Act will require our government to develop a strategy to
address these many factors. It will focus attention on the stigma
surrounding HIV, the links between gender-based violence and HIV
infection, the ways in which increasing educational and economic
opportunities for women can prevent HIV infection, and ways in which to
improve access to female-controlled prevention methods. This legislation
will also strike funding restrictions that require a certain percentage
of funds to be spent on non-comprehensive prevention programs, which,
according to the Government Accountability Office, limits the ability of
programs on the ground to address the need in communities being served
by U.S. funding. 

This legislation is supported by the International Women's Health
Coalition, Global AIDS Alliance, the Center for Health and Gender
Equity, Physicians for Human Rights, Advocates for Youth, Population
Action, the International Center for Research on Women, and Population
Services International.

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