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©2006 Daemon Baizan
 TORONTO (August 18, 2006) - "As the 16th international AIDS conference closes in Toronto today, we must commit ourselves to addressing the underlying causes of vulnerability to HIV," said Helene D. Gayle, president and CEO of CARE, the international poverty-fighting organization, and co-chair of the conference. "We must change the existing social paradigm if we are going to keep pace with the virus. Otherwise, all the scientific advances in the world will not be enough. Looking to the 2008 international AIDS conference in Mexico City, we have a clear responsibility to do the hard work ahead and fulfill our responsibilities to the 40 million people living with HIV and AIDS and the millions more who risk acquiring HIV every year."
Every year 4 million people contract HIV. It is projected that 60 million new infections will occur over the next decade. Prevention strategies already exist that could cut the number of new infections by at least 50 percent. However, less than one in five people currently at risk for HIV have access to those strategies. In addition to scaling up proven existing prevention techniques, it is critical to expand prevention options with new tools such as microbicides, diaphragms, oral preventive therapy, circumcision, herpes treatment and ultimately a vaccine. These measures are central to reducing the spread of HIV. However, neither these technologies nor anti-retroviral treatment can stop the spread of HIV and AIDS on their own. It is clear that we must go further and address the factors that increase risk to HIV, such as gender inequality and economic insecurity.
This means developing more HIV programs that address underlying social factors. In Zimbabwe, for instance, CARE uses savings-based microfinance and basic business management skills to reduce the economic insecurity of vulnerable groups, including orphans, youth, widows, sex workers and people living with HIV and AIDS. This program, called SIMBA, has shown that community-managed financial systems can facilitate credit for highly vulnerable people. This access to credit (on favorable and flexible terms) can protect assets, send children to school, and pay for medical expenses. These small loans bring a certain financial stability to the household, decrease the chances that family members will be forced to migrate to find work or engage in transactional sex, which places family members at higher risk for HIV.
SIMBA has also shown that peer groups can provide a much-needed social support system for marginalized people — and help instill the self-confidence to earn a living with dignity. In addition, women who are more economically independent can better negotiate when, how and with whom they have sex. These kinds of efforts are critical to prevent the spread of HIV.
"Prevention must be at the forefront of the battle against HIV and AIDS like never before. We must offer prevention methods that are relevant to the real needs of people at risk for HIV, especially women, who are increasingly the face of HIV and AIDS. We must strive for concrete solutions to social inequities and unequal power relationships. These solutions, together with new tools, will help empower communities to make a difference in the pandemic."
CARE fights poverty in more than 70 countries. The organization's first HIV and AIDS program began in 1987. CARE now has more than 150 programs in approximately 40 countries that address the causes and consequences of HIV and AIDS. These programs reach over seven million people. The CARE delegation at the conference includes nearly 70 staff from Africa, Asia, Canada, Europe and the United States with expertise in HIV and AIDS.
 You can help CARE fight AIDS. Donate here.
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