WASHINGTON - March 8 - Monday, March 8th marks International Women's Day, and the 15th anniversary of the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing. 189 countries signed on to a Beijing Platform for Action, pledging to work towards the advancement of women and the achievement of gender equality.

On this day, Africa Action celebrates the many achievements of women.  Throughout the continent, women are organizing to strengthen and reinforce women's movements and civil society organization's capacity for gender advocacy and activism.  Take for example, the political leadership emerging among women in Rwanda, Ethiopia, or Liberia.  There are also vibrant civil society organizations across the continent working to enhance women's rights, including Zimbabwe's Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), Zambia's Women For Change (WFC), or the Daughters of Mũmbi Global Resource Center in Kenya.

Sadly, we also mark the occasion with a recognition that the global HIV/AIDS crisis continues to take a disproportionate toll on women. Africa Action calls on the U.S. and international policymakers to do more to address the vulnerability of women and girls to HIV/AIDS and other health challenges.

Today, women still face discrimination and inequality.  HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death of women of between the ages of 15-44.

To address the effects of HIV/AIDS on women, Africa Action urges U.S. policymakers to support HIV prevention programs that are targeted to women, which empower them to make their own sexual decisions.  HIV treatment programs must include drugs to prevent mother-to-child transmission, and treatment access to women must be ensured so they continue to lead productive and healthy lives.

Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be the region most heavily affected by HIV, and in 2008 accounted for 67 percent of HIV infections worldwide.  Women represent the majority of infections, accounting for about 60 percent.  In Cote d'Ivoire, for example, the HIV prevalence among women was twice as high as among males in 2005, and women in South Africa are three times as likely to contract HIV than men. The high rate of sexual violence is one of the main contributors to HIV infections among women.  The BBC reports that 70 percent of women around the globe are forced to have unprotected sex.  A recent study in Lesotho found that 47 percent of men and 40 percent of women believe that women have no right to refuse sex with their husbands or boyfriends.

More broadly, the disproportionate effect of the epidemic on women is a result of gender inequality, with AIDS services not responding to the needs of women.  Women are also increasingly vulnerable to the epidemic due to social, legal and economic disadvantages.

Even in the U.S., about one in four Americans living with HIV are women, and among African American women, HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death for those between the ages of 25 and 34.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria takes into account women's experiences, as women affected by the disease contribute to the the Fund's treatment and prevention programs.  The United Nations Trust Fund grantees in 2009 also make a compelling case for how much can be done with strategic support. For example, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a grantee equipped 300 civil society leaders with new knowledge of paralegal services that permitted thousands of women survivors of sexual violence, including many with HIV, to access justice.

Africa Action and civil society organizations across Africa have charged that President Obama's global health budget plan represents a significant reduction from commitments made in campaign promises and by Congressional pledges.  In a report released in 2009, Africa Action and other human rights organizations, evaluated President Obama's first year in office-giving the President and his Administration a 'D+' for work so far on HIV/AIDS.  President's first budget request to Congress, for fiscal year 2010, essentially froze spending for global AIDS at fiscal year 2009 levels.

Finally, Africa Action calls for better health care services, especially reproductive health care, that can be made accessible and affordable to women everywhere.  Many African governments are unable to devote adequate funds to public health, due to the outstanding debt.  Debt cancellation is one way to encourage the allocation of more resources to HIV/AIDS treatment and education programs focused on prevention.  Even in the U.S., women in economically disadvantaged communities are often unable to receive adequate basic healthcare and HIV treatment, and more funding must be devoted to health services in these areas.

Ultimately, the disproportionate effect of HIV/AIDS on women indicates that women's human rights are not being adequately protected.  Women are often the backbone of African society responsible for educating children, running households as well as performing fundamental income generating activities that are crucial to subsistence.

Women's right to health must be enforced through access to treatment and prevention programs that allow them to persevere in their pivotal roles, and live long, productive, and fulfilling lives. As long as women continue to suffer sexual violence, whether in a situation of armed conflict or at the hands of their husbands and partners, their physical and mental health will be increasingly at risk.  While health resources, including those relating to HIV/AIDS, are fundamental to ensuring women's rights, the international community must take a holistic approach in everything from foreign policy to aid and trade to prevent the continued and systematic undervaluation of women throughout the world.