Ladies and gentlemen,

There was a program on the radio two weeks ago about a nine-month-old baby girl in South Africa being sexually abused by several adult men. Her mother had left her to be looked after by some people in a café while she was doing some errands. She thought the baby would be safe there. However, girls are not safe in societies where people believe that having sex with a virgin cures HIV. It is perhaps an extreme example of how misinformation, lack of education and some men’s behaviour towards women and girls can lead to the spread of HIV, and in this situation may be fatal. But we also hear that schools have become a high-risk area for girls. There are many girls who have been infected with HIV after being raped by their teachers. According to WHO and Save the Children sexual abuse is an underestimated method of infection .

A few weeks ago I was travelling around in Tanzania with some colleagues. At some point we tuned in on a program on BBC Africa. It was an interview with a woman from a fishing village on the shores of Lake Victoria. She was HIV positive and AIDS sick and aware that she would probably die relatively soon. She had contracted the disease from her husband, who had already died from AIDS. However, in her village the custom was that widows married a brother of the diseased husband. She had refused to do this because of her condition. She did not want to infect more people. For this she had been punished in the worst possible way—she was raped by her brother-in-law. This was supposed to somehow cleanse her, while also being a punishment for her disobedience. The woman still refused to give in. She would rather die than marry—and infect—another man and possibly have infected children.

I cannot do justice to this woman’s pain simply by talking about it like this. The program made us all want to cry. Made us sick, also from thinking about the many women in her situation.

We know that in countries with high HIV rates, men are increasingly seeking younger sex partners and wives in order to avoid HIV infection. Many of them are not aware of their own HIV status. Many women who are aware or suspect that their husbands have other sex partners are not in a position where they can negotiate condom use even though they know they are in danger of becoming infected themselves and passing the infection on to their children. In some cases, such as the woman I told you about from the Lake Victoria area, tradition is a forceful ally of the AIDS virus. In other cases it is the crumbling of tradition that speeds up the spread of AIDS.

It is not possible to understand and control an epidemic so closely linked to sexual behaviour as the HIV epidemic is, without a clear understanding of the gender and power issues involved. A male UNICEF director has put it this way: "Who takes decisions on sex, on where and when? The men! Everywhere, men use their power and this inequality is spreading AIDS. This has to be stopped."

HIV/AIDS is a disease that is increasingly linked to poverty. Ninety per cent of the world’s infected are living in sub-Saharan Africa. While HIV/AIDS used to be a threat mostly associated with higher income groups, it is now the poor population groups that are hardest hit. We know that it is always women and children who are most vulnerable to poverty. And we know that HIV infection rates are increasing among women. In sub-Saharan Africa, women make up more than half of those infected. In the most affected countries, adolescent girls are being infected five to six times more often than boys.

We need to be aware of the link between poverty, gender inequality and HIV/AIDS. And realise the mutually reinforcing effect these factors have. We cannot fight poverty without considering women’s rights and participation. Poverty enhances gender inequality, and HIV/AIDS is threatening to reverse years of work and progress in development. HIV/AIDS affects all areas of development work. This is the reason why we seek to mainstream our efforts to fight HIV/AIDS in our overall development co-operation.

* * *

This is not a meeting about women only; our concern today is how gender affects our work against HIV/AIDS. Why is it that often when we talk about gender, we think of women only? We, the men are also gender of sorts, aren’t we? When it comes to HIV it can even be said that our gender—my gender—represents the principal problem.

There are sound reasons why men should be fully involved in the fight against AIDS. We have to realise that improving the status of women and reducing their vulnerability to HIV/AIDS needs greater co-operation from men.

This does not mean an end to prevention programmes for women and girls, and this does not mean that the Norwegian government is distancing itself from the commitments made in earlier declarations on women’s rights and women in development. To the contrary. We still believe that investing in girls and women’s education is the most important vehicle for social and economic development. We still believe that poverty hits women harder than men. And we still believe that gender inequality is a reason for this.

The consequence of the view I have outlined above, is that to prevent HIV/AIDS we have to (one):

Empower and educate women in order to enhance their ability to prevent themselves and their children from becoming infected by HIV; (and two)

Enlighten men on how to take responsibility for their own and their partner’s sexual and reproductive health, and continuously encourage them to do so.

Existing gender relations have a powerful influence, and this affects both men and women. Effective HIV prevention programmes take account of the fact that HIV/AIDS affects men and women differently. In this connection, I am happy to recommend the awareness folder to be presented here to today as a good tool. It is an informative and structured presentation of gender issues and their consequences for the HIV/AIDS epidemic. It deserves broad dissemination and we would like to assist in that regard.

* * *

The international community has declared the fight against HIV/AIDS to be a top priority. The Norwegian government shares this commitment. We are contributing through multilateral organisations, bilaterally and through NGOs.

Norway is one of the major donors to UNAIDS. We co-operate with UNICEF to ensure that as many children as possible, girls in particular, complete primary school. Through WHO, UNDP and other organisations, we have for many years supported the efforts to improve the reproductive health and secure the reproductive rights of women. This work has become even more important with the development of the AIDS epidemic. Respect for the right to information, including information about sex, and respect for the right to reproductive health are essential if we are to empower women to protect themselves, reduce their vulnerability to infection, and reduce mother-to-child transmission of the disease.

In our dialogues with partner countries we emphasise the importance of a national response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic and of tackling the epidemic as a development problem and not as another health problem.

Preventing HIV is about changing people’s attitudes to sexual behaviour. To do this we need information and education. Education is the only vaccine known against HIV/AIDS, at least for the time being. Information and counselling, especially to young people who are not yet sexually active, is therefore extremely important and is likely to be a very good strategy against the epidemic. The Ministry of Education in Zambia is integrating HIV/AIDS education into their primary school curriculum. Norway is supporting the Programme for the Advancement of Girl’s Education run by UNICEF and the Ministry of Education in Zambia.

The stigmatisation and discrimination based on HIV status violate human rights and undermine effective prevention measures. Men and women encounter different forms of stigmatisation and discrimination. FOKUS has a programme in Uganda supported by the Norwegian government that helps women and children living with HIV/AIDS. The purpose is to combat stigmatisation and discrimination and to strengthen women’s economic and social position.

When we talk about HIV/AIDS we have to be clear about issues that are normally not talked about in public. At the same time, bluntness is not necessarily the most effective form of communication. We need to be clear while also finding the best way of communicating effectively, at the local level.

We have to connect with people in their communities and in the private sphere. Schools and health services cannot do the job alone. In many parts of the world, NGOs are in a stronger position to reach people in their communities than the public sector. We need to utilize all good forces in the fight against AIDS, including NGOs and other institutions of civil society such as churches, sports clubs, workers’ unions, etc.

We have to be creative. Men do not show up at mother and child clinics and men are less likely to be the target of sexual health and reproductive education. We therefore consider HIV/AIDS programmes at workplaces to be a good initiative. Veidekke and Hydro are examples of Norwegian firms that are trying out such programmes. In my recent trip to Tanzania I also learned about how the Tanzanian Road Authority (Tanroads) is now systematically trying to provide road construction workers with information and warnings concerning AIDS and trying to be clear about what is and what is not acceptable practice.

On the other hand, we rarely meet women at industrial sites. In developing countries, women work mostly in the informal sector. Many NGOs have long experience of micro-credit programmes directed at women, and HIV/AIDS education is being integrated into such programmes.

Sport can be an excellent arena for informing young people about HIV/AIDS and for creating role models. The football club MYSA in Kenya is a good example of this. The purpose of the MYSA AIDS prevention programme is to inform and train as many young people and youth leaders as possible. Their message is "There is no vaccine for AIDS, only information can stop it. You have that information and must share it. By changing the way only one person behaves you can change many lives." MYSA reports that their anti-AIDS campaign has been especially effective as regards girl players. Football has helped girls at an early age acquire the confidence and self-respect to set their own rules in relationships and say "No" to sexual pressure and harassment. This anti-AIDS campaign was imported to Norway during Norway Cup this summer and has been supported by the Norwegian government. Norwegian support to MYSA is channelled through Strømmestiftelsen.

Information alone does not make people change their behaviour. To stop AIDS we need political leadership on all levels. We need strong messages from those that shape opinions and other role models. We need political leaders that speak out against harmful myths about HIV/AIDS. The will to put HIV/AIDS on the political agenda and make it a public issue is decisive for the success of anti HIV/AIDS campaigns. It looks like Uganda has managed to turn the HIV/AIDS rates, and the success of this county’s anti-AIDS campaign is to a large extent due to President Musevenis leadership and commitment. Other presidents should learn from this example.

We also need religious leaders that set an example; religious leaders do influence peoples’ attitudes and behavior. Many faith-based organisations are doing good work. Preaching the ideal lifestyle according to their established moral code and doctrine is an important contribution and I can assure you that many people do strive to follow such guidance. It does help contain the spreading of AIDS. However, this all good, but not sufficient. Churches and other faith-based organizations must also be clear about the fact that unsafe sex is killing people, millions of people. This is a grim reality. We need these groups as allies in promoting the use of condoms among the many that choose not to abide by their doctrine. We must understand that this is not easy for many faith-based groups but we must bring them along. We do need them as allies.

* * *

I would like to thank the Aidsnett group "HIV/AIDS in a gender perspective" for inviting me to come here today and for arranging this seminar.

Aidsnett was a constructive initiative taken by the former government, and the present government is continuing this commitment. We appreciate efforts to promote knowledge about HIV/AIDS, and we expect that both the participants of Aidsnett and the government will find this fruitful. We are looking forward to future co-operation with Aidsnett.

I would like to congratulate the group "HIV/AIDS in a gender perspective" on their awareness folder, and I hope it will raise awareness about the issue. I am looking forward to hearing about the work of the other groups in Aidsnett.

And now I would like to thank you for your attention, and wish you every success with the rest of the meeting.