Tuesday, November 19, 2013

VOILENCE AGAINST WOMEN AS ROOT CAUSE TO HIV/AIDS


Violence against Women (VAW) is the root cause to the women often gets infected by HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia. In many communities, low income women experience Violence in terms of physical, psychological and economic among others. As the result, the women forced to find a way to earn income in commercial sex work which leads them to unsafe sex, opportunistic infections and HIV acquisition and/or transmission.
Yet again, HIV+ recognized women, experience violence, stigma and discrimination because of their HIV status. This behavior becomes a gatekeeper for many HIV positive women not to disclose their HIV status and adhere to their medical treatments for fear of Violence, stigma and discrimination. Therefore, violence against women has been identified to be the root cause to   many women infected by HIV/AIDS.
In Ethiopia, the number of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) is approximately 1 million of which women account for 61%. The existing prevalence rate among women is 4.2. Currently; there are 380,900 women living with HIV/AIDS who need Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART), 900,000 Orphans and Vulnerable children (OVC) due to AIDS, 27,978 new infections annually, 41,451 annual deaths, 38,404 HIV positive pregnant women, 7,806 positive births. The capital, Addis Ababa, and major urban towns account for an estimated 93% of the total women living with HIV/AIDS (ANC 2009 Biological& Behavioral Data, and EDHS 2011).
Hitherto, the issues of HIV/AIDS impact among the low income women in Ethiopian communities are continuing challenge.  We now, many of such women and their families are experiencing shortage of living, abandonment, isolation, stigma, discrimination and violence which involve physical and psychological harm in their communities.
To address the root cause, enhancing community based activism has been identified effective.  This is systematic processes of engaging individuals, families, groups and institutions to play their respective and joint contribution to influence nonviolence based relationships; and balanced power between women and men of the community.
Therefore, we recommend four strategies to put effect grassroots effort of VAW and its dangerous connection to HIV/AIDS prevention. These are enhancing grass root based local activism, tailored made IEC/BCC communication materials, media and advocacy and Training in order to aware and gain skill to range of community’s element towards  fighting against VAW and HIV/AIDS as individually and/or collectively  to achieve nonviolence based relationships; and balanced power between women and men in our communities today.
The implementation results can be evaluated using strong measure of change indicators such as knowledge, attitudes, skills and behavior referring to achieving nonviolence based relationships; and balanced power between women and men. 

Monday, November 4, 2013


Hitherto, the issue of HIV/ AIDS impact among women is particularly a continuing challenge. In recent times, women living with HIV/AIDS and their families are suffering shortage of living, abandonment and Isolation. Lack of appropriate sources of income and economic insecurity are the major issues to cause the women to encounter malnourishment, stigma, discrimination and violence which involve physical and psychological harm in their communities. In addition, the problem force most of the target women to find a way to earn income, often in commercial sex work, which again leads them to unsafe sex, higher risk of AIDS, starvation and  marginalization
Therefore, continued effort and investment by local development agents and their partners is believed necessary to contribute to the mitigation of the root cause and consequences of HIV/AIDS towards achieving the Millennium Development Goal of zero HIV transmission, zero Deaths to AIDS and zero stigma and Discrimination. 

Hitherto, the issue of HIV/ AIDS impact among women is particularly a continuing challenge. In recent times, women living with HIV/AIDS and their families are suffering shortage of living, abandonment and Isolation. Lack of appropriate sources of income and economic insecurity are the major issues to cause the women to encounter malnourishment, stigma, discrimination and violence which involve physical and psychological harm in their communities. In addition, the problem force most of the target women to find a way to earn income, often in commercial sex work, which again leads them to unsafe sex, higher risk of AIDS, starvation and marginalization Therefore, continued effort and investment by local development agents and their partners is believed necessary to contribute to the mitigation of the root cause and consequences of HIV/AIDS towards achieving the Millennium Development Goal of zero HIV transmission, zero Deaths to AIDS and zero stigma and Discrimination.



Hitherto, the issue of HIV/ AIDS impact among women is particularly a continuing challenge. In recent times, women living with HIV/AIDS and their families are suffering shortage of living, abandonment and Isolation. Lack of appropriate sources of income and economic insecurity are the major issues to cause the women to encounter malnourishment, stigma, discrimination and violence which involve physical and psychological harm in their communities. In addition, the problem force most of the target women to find a way to earn income, often in commercial sex work, which again leads them to unsafe sex, higher risk of AIDS, starvation and marginalization Therefore, continued effort and investment by local development agents and their partners is believed necessary to contribute to the mitigation of the root cause and consequences of HIV/AIDS towards achieving the Millennium Development Goal of zero HIV transmission, zero Deaths to AIDS and zero stigma and Discrimination.


Hitherto, the issue of HIV/ AIDS impact among women is particularly a continuing challenge. In recent times, women living with HIV/AIDS and their families are suffering shortage of living, abandonment and Isolation. Lack of appropriate sources of income and economic insecurity are the major issues to cause the women to encounter malnourishment, stigma, discrimination and violence which involve physical and psychological harm in their communities. In addition, the problem force most of the target women to find a way to earn income, often in commercial sex work, which again leads them to unsafe sex, higher risk of AIDS, starvation and marginalization Therefore, continued effort and investment by local development agents and their partners is believed necessary to contribute to the mitigation of the root cause and consequences of HIV/AIDS towards achieving the Millennium Development Goal of zero HIV transmission, zero Deaths to AIDS and zero stigma and Discrimination.


Sunday, June 23, 2013

Tomorrow is another Day




Thirty years has elapsed since the emergence of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. HIV prevalence and incidence remain alarmingly high. 33 million people living with HIV/AIDS in our Globe. An estimated 1.8 million people were newly infected with HIV worldwide in 2010. The impact of the epidemic remains worse in Sub-Saharan Africa than in any other region and it is calculated that 22.4 million people are living with HIV/AIDS. In addition, the incidence of infection and death rates due to HIV/AIDS remains steady or continues to rise (EDHS 2011)
Ethiopia has the second largest population in Sub-Saharan Africa and is severely affected by the epidemic. The epidemic is systematically undermining the country’s effort to reduce poverty and the impact of investments in health, education and rural development. Currently National Prevalence rate is 1.5(4.2 Urban&0.6 rural). the number of people living with HIV (PLHIV) in Ethiopia is approximately 759,338(61% female). 380,900 need ART, 900,000 Orphans due to AIDS, 27,978 new infections per year41,451 annual deaths, 38,404 HIV positive pregnant women, 7,806 positive births(EDHS 2011&ANC 2009 Biological and Behavioral Data)
The capital, Addis Ababa, and major urban towns account for an estimated 93% of the total PLHIV population. Vertical transmission from mother-to-child accounts for more than 90% of pediatric AIDS cases. These factors have made HIV prevention and AIDS impact reduction a continuing challenge(Nigatu and Woldegebriel, Reproductive Health Journal 2011, 8:6).. 

In the intervention communities of NLK, most women living with HIV/AIDS are often experience Violence from their spouses and families as the result of which the women  to be vulnerable to several factors such as physical abuse, psychological harm and shortage of living among others; in particular, shortage of living forced the women to find a way to earn income in commercial sex work, which again leads to unsafe sex and opportunistic infections and at higher risk of HIV/AIDS acquisition and transmission. Furthermore, this behavior is a gatekeeper for many HIV positive women not to disclose their HIV status for fear of Violence from their counterpart and /or families and driven out of home encountering economic problem.

Post the generous SASA TOT by Raising Voices in 2011, NLK had conducted formative assessment in order to understand the existing situation and vulnerability profiles of our target group beneficiaries, we identified that our beneficiaries have different needs and degree of related vulnerability. The findings indicate that Violence against women (VAW) is still a critical intervention area as it is contributing to the aggravation of HIV/AIDS in the communities.To respond to the problem, NLK started to implement SASA!  Power, Prevention of VAW and its connection to HIV/AIDS as the result of which we witness significant improvements;