The New Face of AIDS—Young Asian Women

By Imelda V. Abaño,

Philippines

Philippines — HIV/AIDS, like other life-threatening illnesses, can open a path of reflection for many, redeeming them from living in dread of death, allowing them to relish, instead, each day as a gift of life. For some, in serving others, their lives take on a new sense of worth.

This is the story of Frika Chia Iskandar, 24, a young vibrant woman from Jakarta, Indonesia. Diagnosed with HIV at age 18, Frika declared, “I am the new face of AIDS, a young Asian woman. I was born when AIDS was discovered.”

Frika, when only 16 and full of adventure, thought that sharing hypodermic needles for heroin with other users was fun. When she reached 18, she was sent into a rehabilitation center, which provides detoxification, counseling and therapy. It was there that she was diagnosed as HIV positive.

“It was a horrible experience as I did not receive any information about HIV. All I felt was fear, uselessness and anger,” recalled Frika, who ultimately founded PITA Foundation-Jakarta, which is involved in programs for HIV/AIDS affected communities, people living with HIV/AIDS, and volunteers and advocates on behalf of the rights of women and youth.

Learning to live with stigma and discrimination

The 2006 Global AIDS Epidemic Report of the UNAIDS estimates that in Asia, 8.3 million adults and children are infected with HIV/AIDS, of whom 2.3 million are women. As the face of young Asian women living with HIV, Frika’s involvement in the fight against the endemic has been enormous. She said that it is not just about testimonials from HIV-positive people anymore—action is needed more than anything.

“We know how it feels to be [HIV] positive and we also have key roles in education, in prevention, in care, support and treatment,” she pointed out.

The young activist from Indonesia, who has occasionally been denied medical care because of her HIV-positive status, had a message for people living with the virus: “The stigma is not going to go away, so learn to live with it, instead of fighting it.”

“While HIV does not discriminate who it infects, people discriminate, politics discriminate,” she pointed out, adding politicians and development leaders have failed to deliver on promises made to people living with HIV and AIDS.

Feminization of AIDS

Calling the feminization of AIDS a symptom of gender inequity, Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), said gender power differentials remain entrenched in most of the world and continue to fuel the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Heyzer said that, while we have seen progress on women’s rights and HIV/AIDS in terms of normative frameworks, institutional transformation, and increased access to treatment and care, is much too slow.

“The changing face of the disease means that unless progress is accelerated, women, especially young women, will continue to be the most vulnerable to infection, the least able to protect themselves and the last to get treatment and care. Widows will continue to be driven from their homes in many places, deprived of land and inheritance rights; the number of AIDS orphans will continue to grow, and families will sink deeper and deeper into poverty,” the Executive Director of UNIFEM said.

She said there is no quick fix. “The single most important strategy in preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS is empowering women and guaranteeing their rights—to protect themselves from infection, to overcome stigma, to demand greater access to treatment and care. But there are other key strategies and actions that can be taken, on all of these fronts, to eliminate barriers to prevention, treatment and care for women and girls.”

The Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) does exactly this, guarantees these rights and empowers women to claim them. This 25 year-old UN treaty, also known as the international Women’s Bill of Rights, is the only human rights treaty that affirms and upholds women’s rights to health services. General Recommendation No. 15 of CEDAW guarantees the “avoidance of discrimination against women in national strategies for the prevention and control of AIDS.”

UNIFEM has helped HIV-positive women in Cambodia create a network that now sends representatives to attend government policy sessions on HIV/AIDS, advise public health providers on how to make services accessible and friendly to women, and participate in the national programming deliberations for grants from the Global Fund on AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The Fund also helps the Positive Women’s Network, an activist group of about 5,000 HIV-positive Indian women, to meet policy makers to lobby for better treatment options.

Inequalities in Access to HIV treatment

In many developing countries, HIV-positive women have to face human rights abuses when trying to access medical services and antiretroviral treatment programs.

AIDS advocates said that due to pervasive discrimination, women are less likely than men to have the income or assets needed to pay for antiretroviral therapy. Even where treatment is free, basic costs like diagnostic tests or transportation to the hospital may be out of reach of women.

“Many people, especially women, died from AIDS just because it was too late for them, it was too late for others to tell them that treatment is available. Ensuring that the drugs reach those who need them most is a step that is beyond testimonials,” Frika said.

Time To Deliver

UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot said it is time to deliver universal access to prevention, treatment and support for women and girls living with AIDS. He emphasized that HIV is an exceptional crisis and worsening threat, requiring us to act in exceptional ways.

“Tragically, the end of AIDS is nowhere in sight. We need to address the drivers of this epidemic and these drivers are generally inequality, the position of women, the stigma and discrimination,” Piot said.

Piot said last year, at least $8.3 billion was spent on AIDS in developing countries, including in Asia.

“We must keep AIDS exceptionally high and exceptionally visible on political agendas year after year and it requires unprecedented response,” he said.

More than 20 million people have died of AIDS since it was first identified in 1981. The number of people living with HIV continues to grow—from 35 million in 2001, to 38 million in 2003, to 39.4 million in 2004, according to 2006 UNAIDS statistics. About 25 million people living with HIV are in sub-Saharan Africa; 10 million of them are young people aged 15 to 24; between 80 and 85 per cent of HIV/AIDS cases are the result of unprotected sexual intercourse.

As for Frika, she has learned to get on with her life, irrespective of what people say, and to speak out, demanding the rights and respect due her as a human being, because she believes having HIV does not make her any less deserving. Despite experiencing discrimination and stigma, she vowed to remain active in fighting for the rights of those with HIV/AIDS.

“Hopefully my words might have an impact and leave a lesson for those who read them, as I don’t wish anyone to follow my path. Take it from me, I paid a heavy price.”