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AIDS & Women
Today the face of AIDS looks more like your mother's, your sister's, your daughter's
SPEECH BY SECRETARY OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES DONNA SHALALA
 In just 14 years - the time it takes to raise a child from birth to
adolescence a wave of human destruction has swept over our planet.
In that time, HIV has claimed the lives of more than six
million men, women and children. And today, more than 18 million citizens
of the world are living with this insidious virus.
We know that women constitute more than 40 percent of adult
HIV infections around the globe and, tragically, that number is growing.
By the end of the century, experts predict that most new HIV infections
will be among women and children.
We know that biologically and socially women are more
vulnerable to HIV infection. We know that HIV expresses itself differently
in women than it does in men.
And, as we approach the dawn of the 21st century, we know that
the real faces of AIDS include our mothers and our daughters, our sisters
and our aunts, our neighbors and our friends.
The face of AIDS is the 30-year-old woman in Zimbabwe who is
struggling to survive with her partner, who is also infected with HIV. The
face of AIDS is the 24-year-old woman in the United States who exchanges
sex for food and shelter and is now living with AIDS.
The face of AIDS is the 42-year-old woman in London who,
having unknowingly infected her children, must watch her family
disintegrate before her eyes. And, the face of AIDS is the 11-year-old
girl in the Philippines forced to raise herself because both of her
parents were stolen away by this cruel pandemic.
But, these women are not alone. Women, from around the world,
using their minds and bodies and souls: researching vaccines and cures;
raising money and raising awareness; holding families together; and
fighting for policies that will help stop this disease and heal those it
strikes.
That's exactly why we are here. We meet to demonstrate our
solidarity against HIV and AIDS, our determination to conquer it, and our
commitment to compassionately support those members of our global family
who have been affected by it.
Let me be clear: Any breach in international solidarity is a
victory for the virus. Because AIDS does not discriminate. It knows no
boundaries of geography or gender; ethnicity or employment. It makes no
distinctions based on age, nationality or sexual orientation. So our
efforts must be just as universal in scope.
In the United States, we have significantly increased the
resources devoted to combating HIV and AIDS at home and around the world.
We have re-focused and re-energized our research agenda and developed
frank and honest public education campaigns.
We have, as a matter of national policy, directly involved
non-governmental organizations in the planning and implementation of our
AIDS strategy.
We're forging partnerships with our pharmaceutical industry,
experts from academia, and members of the AIDS community to remove
bureaucratic roadblocks and speed the development of AIDS-related drugs.
And, through it all, we are working tirelessly to empower women to protect
themselves against HIV and other sexually-transmitted diseases.
We can make their lives better, if not longer, but it will
require greater will and greater resources. But it is clearly not enough.
To meet this challenge, all of us must encircle the globe, creating an
international front to stop the spread of this disease and the pain and
suffering it causes.
Let us challenge ourselves to improve and expand education
programs that teach women about their own bodies so that they can protect
their own lives. Let us educate our men - especially our young men to
respect women and to protect their families by taking personal
responsibility for preventing the spread of the disease.
Let us continue to support biomedical research, uncovering
great scientific discoveries that empower women to protect themselves
against HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
Let us make treatment for sexually transmitted diseases
available to men and women so that we can reduce this critical co-factor
to HIV infection.
And, above all, let us never forget the underlying
socioeconomic factors that prevent women from protecting themselves and
their families. Because our battle against HIV and AIDS is also a battle
against racism, sexism, poverty and homo-phobia. And we must continue to
confront these battles if we are to win the war against AIDS.
If we are to conquer HIV - and I firmly believe that we will it
will take an unprecedented level of international cooperation and
collective action.
It will take courage and creativity. It will take passion and
perseverance. It will take loud voices and bold visions. But, it must be
done and it will be done.
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