Friday, October 11, 2013

International Day of the Girl



International Day of the Girl encourages us to draw our attention to the inequalities facing young girls across the world. We are called to take a critical look at whether or not girls are given the same opportunities as boys in terms of access to education, financial stability, and sexual empowerment. Here at the Stigma Action Network, we are most concerned with how girls are affected by the HIV epidemic. After examining the data related to this topic, we ultimately found that:
  • In sub-Saharan Africa, young women aged 15 to 24 are up to 8 times more likely than young men to be living with HIV.[1]
  • Worldwide, young women account for 66% of young people living with HIV.[2]
  •  Women living with HIV are more likely to experience violence as result of their status, than men living with HIV.[3]
  • Prevalence of first forced sex among adolescent girls is as high as 48% in some countries, which further maintains the HIV epidemic.[4]

While these facts are indeed surprising, the factors that perpetuate them are even more alarming. Three of these most significant factors are outlined below.


  • Girls’ Lack of Empowerment: According to global statistics, girls are significantly poorer, less educated, and as a result less financially and socially empowered than their male counterparts. This power imbalance reduces young women’s choices as they negotiate their sexual health and relationships, often giving them little choice in determining if and when to have sex, and in cases of consensual sex, whether that sex is safe. Furthermore, poverty prevents underprivileged girls from receiving adequate health care and education, and as such resources are essential in fighting the HIV epidemic, breaches in these areas may lead to HIV infection.
  • Biology: The risk of becoming infected during unprotected sex is two to four times greater for women than for men, and for young girls, the risk can be even higher.[5] This biological disparity gives further evidence as to the importance of educating girls about their sexual health and rights, specifically as they relate to HIV.
  • Culture: And lastly, cultural mores may encourage men to have many sexual partners.[6] This is particularly problematic surrounding the issue of child marriage, as such customs can facilitate the spread of HIV to girls in high-risk areas. And given that one-third of the world’s girls are married before they reach the age of 18, such practices can have quite widespread and devastating effects.[7]




As you can see, there are a multitude of socio-economic and biological factors that put girls at a higher risk of HIV. But what is the solution to this problem? And how can we curb these inequalities and give girls the power to take control of their sexual health?

Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of UNICEF offers up her thoughts:

“Education is crucial to success against the pandemic. 
In fact, UNICEF remains convinced that until an effective remedy is found,
 education is one of the most effective tools for curbing HIV/AIDS”


Luckily, the following organizations are contributing to the fight against HIV by educating girls about the importance of and how to protect themselves by engaging in safe sex! Here are a few #StigmaWarriors who are doing great work with girls on HIV education:


Girls Learn International, Inc

Girls Learn International, Inc. takes a unique approach to girls’ education by partnering American schools with schools in foreign countries where girls do not enjoy the same educational opportunities as boys. This organization functions as an after school program that offers service oriented learning to young girls. Participants in the US chapters learn of the challenges facing girls in their partner schools including child marriage, trafficking, poverty, sexual health, and educational disparities. Money that is raised domestically goes towards purchasing textbooks, teachers' salaries, meals, and transportation in partner schools. Girls Learn International, Inc. has 47 partnerships in the following countries where HIV rates are notably high: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Nepal, Pakistan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Vietnam. Learn more about this organization and how you can help support the education of girls across the world


Maasai Girls Education Fund

On the Top 10 list of countries most affected by HIV/AIDS, Kenya comes in at #4. Girls living in poverty have less control over their sexual health, both because of lack of education and because of sexual abuse. "A large, national survey of secondary school girls in Kenya found that 40 per cent of those reporting sexual activity indicated that their first sexual experience was forced or that they were 'cheated into having sex.'"[8] The Maasai are nomadic pastoralists originating from the lower Nile valley with a strong traditional culture that often prevents females from receiving an adequate education. Only 48% of Maasai girls in Kenya enroll in school, and only 5% of those who enroll reach the secondary school level.[9] Such educational disparity can further facilitate the spread of HIV, as girls who remain uneducated are not only unable to make sexually sound decisions, but are also unable decisions that may secure a promising future. The Maasai Girls Education Fund works to combat this, however, by providing a safe environment where girls can receive a quality education. Donations to the Maasai Girls Education Fund go towards buying uniforms, books, and helping to pay tuition. What makes this organization stand out are their community workshops that attempt to reverse cultural beliefs and norms that discourage young girls from enrolling in and committing to school. And as enrollment in school is the best HIV prevention method available to girls (as noted by the World Bank), this organization’s work can surely make a difference.


Commit 2 Change

Young women are the victims of heavy abuse in India as well, in part because they are viewed as the less desirable of the two genders: over 25,000 of adolescent girls are malnourished and suffer from illness and medical neglect [10]. Commit 2 Change is dedicated to supporting female orphans in India by providing them with secondary education, with a particular emphasis on sexual health and HIV/AIDS prevention. Millions of children across the world have become orphaned after losing their parents to HIV/AIDS. Orphaned children are more likely to become impoverished and less likely to be enrolled in school as a result. A study done by UNICEF reveals that "the irony is that orphans are frequently deprived of quality education, which is the very thing they need to help protect themselves from HIV" [11]. India ranks #3 on the Top 10 countries most affected by HIV/AIDS.



The SAN congratulates the above-mentioned organizations (and others around the world!) who are doing great work to educate girls about safe sex and to prevent the spread of HIV among this particularly vulnerable population. However, The Girls Insights report conducted by the International Center for Research on Women found that "girls said they still lack even the most basic knowledge, autonomy and other assets critical for their health and empowerment." This demonstrates that even more must be done if we are to stop the spread of HIV and related stigma!

We hope that more organizations accept the challenge of incorporating sexual education, including education around HIV, into curriculum for young girls and adolescents. Programs must also be developed in a way that empowers girls to use this education to make sound decisions about their own sexual health. Together, with this sort of integrated approach, we can help girls gain control over their lives and futures, and help make a future without HIV a reality.

(Visit UNICEF for more details.)


6 comments:

  1. Treat each gender differently and look at sex when diagnosing certain conditions is beneficial Frauengruppen

    ReplyDelete
  2. HI My Name is marian, I wish to share my
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    ReplyDelete
  3. I recently have a good luck spell cast on me by dr.savior and I want anyone to tell me how it use to work because still I had this spell cast on me different companies
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    ReplyDelete
  4. COMPLIMENT OF THE SEASON TO ALL AND MAY THIS SEASON BRING JOY AND HAPPINESS UPON YOUR FAMILY AND ALSO BRINGS ABOUT FAMILY REUNION AND RESTORATION...... My Name is Alan Pratte, From USA. I wish to share my testimonies with the general public about what this man called Dr OTIS DARKO has just done for me , this man has just brought back my lost Ex WIFE to me with his great spell, I was married to this woman called Sharon we were together for a long time and we loved our self’s but when I was unable to make her pregnant for me and also give her al she needs she left me and told me she can’t continue anymore then I was now looking for ways to get her back until a friend of mine told me about this man and gave his contact email: otisdarko60@yahoo.com then you won't believe this when I contacted this man on my problems he prepared this spell cast and bring my lost WIFE back, and after a month she became pregnant for me because he gave me some herbs to take also and when she went for a test and the result stated that she was pregnant am happy today am a FATHER of a baby girl, thank you once again the great DR OTIS DARKO for what you have done for me, if you are out there passing through any of this problems listed below:

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    Email... otisdarko60@yahoo.com...... YOU CAN ALSO ADD HIM UP ON WHATSAPP USING THIS MOBILE NUMBER:+2348077526136

    ReplyDelete
  5. I am just another person that as i would say, the ' GREAT SPELL CASTER OTIS DARKO ' has helped word can not describe all he did for me i would rather you all that would read this were all in my life when all what he did for me materialized because only then will you really believe what i am talking about. I was not born with a royal blood and i do not even come from a decent family by decent i mean a family with wealth and all that and it was more than normal that my relationship with a royal blood will cause a lot of feud in both my home and that of my fiance. Yes he from a royal family but i will not mentions anything else in other to avoid scandal. We meant on a faithful Sunday in church and just like that he swept me off my feet i knew he was the prince but that was not while i fell for him it was more like i fell for him because he seem calm and always at else with everything it was like he did not even see himself as a prince. May be you may think its because it was not next in line but when i got to really know him, i saw that he was just an unembellished person that wanted to live his life in peace. It all start with us being friend and then on every night of Christmas 2004 that he spent at my house he kissed me and believe me in my mind i was Cinderella. It was like my heart was going to burst in flame i never knew i had all those feelings locked away in my heart but he broke the chain that was holding it back with just one kiss. Even when he wanted to be with me he family was again it and it was always like i was the root of what ever problem he was going through with his family. I thought to myself, i can not be the one to take the peace he had i felt he was better and at else without me. We where always of and on and all the while he waited for me with the biggest of hope that i will come back. I knew he was madly in love with me as i was in love with him but being with him was a problem as much as not being with him. His family won't let him be with with me. They opposed our relationship for nine years we where in love but unhappy our relationship was going no where with all the feud. I could no longer be the one an entire family hate and the same time be in love with a guy that his family did not want me. I some how some way got to know about OTIS DARKO a spell cast a great one at that. All i want was to be with my now fiance forever and to be loved and cared for by his family just as it suppose to be. I asked him to help me make my heart desires materialize because i saw a lot of testimonies on the internet about him and the number of people he helped everybody and every blog and forum had his name and his work. I needed to be one of the people he helped. After a lot of conversation he agreed to help me and asked that i get some materials he listed for me. I could get them but i would have made too many people ask question and it needed to be done in a very low profile so i wired the total cost to him so that he can get the materials i needed for the spell and there by avoid exposing myself over what should have be done in secret until the spell process was completed. Yes OTIS DARKO helped me with he spell and he send me a package containing what i can not disclose all i can say is that it was the result of the spell he helped me cast and he gave instruction on how i would use it to make the spell effective. I did all he asked of me and just like he promise me at the beginning, the spell made my fiance entire family love respect and treat me like their own child. To me i would say that OTIS DARKO was my fairy godmother because maybe right now my life would have be miserable basically because i would have had to let go of the love of my life because no one or more like his family would not approve our union. Contact OTIS DARKO because you will only be helping yourself and yourself only use this email as contact otisdarko60@yahoo.com......YOU CAN ALSO ADD HIM UP ON WHATSAPP USING THIS MOBILE NUMBER:+2348077526136

    ReplyDelete
  6. I read some testimonies
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    on how he has helped lots of
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    in bringing back their ex lovers within 48hours, Sincerely I was
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    this
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    my lover whom I love so much. I
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    in
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    and
    my boyfriend is living a happy life
    and our love is now stronger than
    how it were even before our
    break
    up.All thanks goes to
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    His mail: huwawaspiritualspelltemple@gmail.com for more information mail me @ smithteev@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete