Message
from UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé on International Women’s Day
Geneva, 8 March 2014
Stand together on International
Women’s Day
We know well that it is our
mothers, wives, sisters and daughters who make it happen. Women around the world
are running countries, businesses and raising children. In the AIDS response,
it is more likely to be women who care for the sick. It is women who care for
their families and communities and it is women who look after the most
vulnerable in society.
“Women make it happen, but it
doesn’t always happen for women.” Women face many forms of discrimination.
It is also women who suffer
violence at the hands of their partners, are more likely to become infected
with HIV and are marginalized in many societies. One out of three women is
physically or sexually abused by a partner in her lifetime. Every hour, 50
young women are newly infected with HIV. Half of all people living with HIV in
low- and middle-income countries are women––and new HIV infections among women
are on the rise in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East and North
Africa.
Women must be free to make
decisions about their health, lives and futures. On this International Women’s
Day, let’s all stand up for women, together we can make it happen. |
