31st Meeting of the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Bureau (PCB)
(11-13 December 2012)

Statement by India

            On behalf of the CAR countries, I would like to thank UN  Members Djibouti, Rwanda and Angola for sharing their experience.

            India’s HIV Programme has not been engaged in the accelerated agenda for women and children.  First of all, we would like to engage and understand it.  We would also like to know more about country specific finding.  We would also like to know whether this agenda of 2009 is still relevant today or does it need modification.  We acknowledge the importance of the issue of women and children.  We would like to stress that interventions of highest importance should be promoted.  I would like to give some quick suggestions:

1.         Sustainable approaches should be given priority, that is, compulsory inclusion of HIV in educational curriculum so that all young girls get correct information.

2.         As rightly pointed out in the Report, HIV prevention measures that give control to women must be encouraged.  There is a need to do much more to promote female condoms.  Research across the globe shows poor condom usage among the sex workers as highest with the occasional clients but low with regular partners.  We urge UNAIDS and UN women to make a very big push to popularize female condoms to include demand promotion and access to affordable supply.

3.         There are several other such approaches which directly bring results.  At a policy level, it is also desirable that there should be disclosure of the HIV positive status of a man to his female partner so as to protect her.

            In India, our HIV Programme has been sensitive to gender issues.  As a result, women access to HIV treatment ________  in proportion to prevalence.

            We are also now partnering with various Ministries of Government of India for social protection  to women, i.e., to have a pension to HIV  women and give nutritional supplements to HIV women and free transport for treatment.

            We are proud to have very strong positive women_____ which work hand in hand with the national programmes.  They are members of most governing bodies on HIV such as Global Fund, etc.  There are also strong partnerships with network of  sex workers, etc.  These  are also involved in all policies and programmes.

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