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Saving Lives Now: Female Condoms and the Role of U.S. Foreign Aid
Tuesday, April 22- CHANGE has released a new report Saving Lives Now: Female Condoms and the Role of U.S. Foreign Aid The report documents U.S. investment in global female condom procurement, distribution and programming. Saving Lives Now is a product of CHANGE's Prevention Now! campaign to increase global access to female condoms. To download or purchase bound copies of the report visit www.preventionnow.net.
Press release
CHANGE blog on female condoms
New Resource: Comparison of 2008 U.S. Global AIDS Bills
Tuesday, March 18- CHANGE has released a new Fact Sheet for advocates and policy makers. The resource compares House and Senate versions of bills to reauthorize the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) with current U.S. global AIDS law. The Fact Sheet also delineates CHANGE's recommendations to reform U.S. global AIDS policy.
View Comparison of 2008 U.S. Global AIDS Bills
More on PEPFAR
Concession on Global AIDS Bill Compromises Women's Health and Rights
Thursday, March 13- The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has passed its own version of a bill to reauthorize the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The House Committee on Foreign Affiars passed a similar bill last month. CHANGE responded to the news by stating, "We hear all sorts of praise for the bipartisan compromise over PEPFAR, but how can we praise a bill that sidelines sound science and the health and rights of women?" The Senate bill requires an explanation from the Global AIDS Coordinator if funding for programs that promote abstinence and fidelity falls below 50% of prevention spending in countries with generalized AIDS epidemics. It retains the requirement that organizations pledge opposition to prostitution in order to receive U.S. global AIDS funding and fails to provide a comprehensive strategy for addressing the prevention needs of women and girls. The bill also fails to support linkages between HIV/AIDS and family planning services
CHANGE Press Release
Text of Senate bill, S. 2731
Text of House bill, H.R.5501
More on PEPFAR
U.S.-based NGOs highlight Women of Color for International Women's Day
March 11 and 12-CHANGE and ActionAid International USA convened women of color from across the globe on Capitol Hill in order to highlight the intersection of gender-based violence and HIV & AIDS among their populations. Representing an array of backgrounds including faith-based, PLWHA, and grassroots advocates from abroad, the women brought their experiences and insights to Members of Congress. In addition to meetings with individual offices, the women hosted a community roundtable to discuss domestic and international policy issues important to Women of Color. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee co-sponsored the roundtable discussion.
Press Release
HIV&AIDS Programmes and Financial Allocations Continue to Fail Women and Girls
Tuesday, March 4- The Center for Health and Gender Equity joined with members of the Women Won't Wait campaign to mark the one year anniversary of the campaign's launch and express concern that "women’s rights still occupy the margins of
HIV&AIDS strategies and funding." In a press statement the campaign issued in advance of International Women's Day, member groups demanded "that policy makers and donors integrate responses to violence against women in global and national AIDS programmes and allocate resources to these responses."
Campaign Press Release
U.S. Health, Rights Leaders Decry Department of State Position that Family Planning is Anti-Life, Demand Response
Thursday, February 28- The Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE), Advocates for Youth and the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS) sent a letter to Secretary Condoleezza Rice expressing grave concern over the State Department's opposition to an early draft of legislation to reauthorize the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The letter stated, "We are astounded by the State Department's position that providing family planning and reproductive health services to women living with HIV is 'contrary to PEPFAR's life saving principles,'" and requested a response from the State Department.
Letter to the U.S. Department of State
Press Release
U.S. Congress Introduces New PEPFAR Bill: Two Steps Forward, Three Steps Back
Wednesday, February 27- The House Committee on Foreign Affairs passed a bill to reauthorize the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE) praises the bill for removal of the abstinence-until-marriage earmark and, for the first time, recognizing the importance of female condoms in HIV prevention. At the same time, the bill retains the anti-prostitution pledge, and the remaining language around funding for abstinence and fidelity programs to prevent the sexual transmission of HIV is "dangerously ambiguous." The bill also seeks to restrict support for linkages between HIV/AIDS and family planning to organizations in compliance with the U.S. Global Gag Rule. Executive director of CHANGE, Serra Sippel stated, "we are frustrated that political compromise has diluted attempts to fully support comprehensive approaches to HIV prevention and integrate HIV and family planning programs, which could save lives.”
Center for Health and Gender Equity Press Release
Event: Silencing Sex Ed: The Harm of U.S. Abstinence-Only Policies at Home and Abroad
CHANGE, in partnership with Legal Momentum and the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS), is traveling to Maine for two panel presentations focusing on how the U.S. federal government uses abstinence-only funding to fuel domestic and international programs full of misinformation, sexist stereotypes, and extreme ideology that aim to roll back sexual and reproductive rights.
Information for Tuesday, January 29, 2008 event at Bowdoin College
Information for Wednesday, January 30, 2008 event at the University of Southern Maine
International Journal features CHANGE article: "Female Condoms: Prevention options for women now!"
December 2007- Serra Sippel, Executive Director of CHANGE and coordinator of the Prevention Now! Campaign, authored the feature article in Exchange on HIV/AIDS, Sexuality and Gender. The article “Female Condoms: Prevention Options for Women Now!” highlights the importance of the female condom as a highly effective, female-initiated barrier method in combating the global AIDS epidemic. The article also outlines critical challenges facing female condom acceptance, distribution and programming and makes recommendations for overcoming these barriers and moving toward universal access to female condoms.
Read Article
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