Walking the Talk - VSO

support. While their efforts support whole families andentire communities, women and girls are neithersufficiently supported nor recognised for their careprovidingefforts. They face an unacceptable extraburden and an inability to claim their rights inenvironments that are often already highly challenging.5.1. What do we mean by ‘care and support’?Care and support, the least examined components of theHIV and AIDS continuum, have been defined in varyingways. For the purpose of this report, we define care andsupport for people living with or affected by HIV and AIDSas a package of interventions aimed at supportingpositive living and improving the quality of life for peopleliving with and affected by HIV and AIDS (see Box 5). Ineffect, care and support services contribute to therealisation of the right “to the enjoyment of the highestattainable standard of health conducive to living a life indignity,” as established by the International Covenant onEconomic, Social and Cultural Rights. 1575.2. Women and girls’ access to care andsupport servicesCare and support services are essential to the physicaland mental wellbeing of women and girls living with HIVand AIDS. While little disaggregated data exists todetermine the gendered aspects of access to HIV andAIDS care and support services, research conducted forthis report shows that women and girls who do accessthese services face formidable barriers. For example,women and girls may find it difficult to take time awayfrom household and income-generating duties, and oftenneed to seek permission or money from male relatives toattend support groups, counselling or health facilities.Access to psychosocial care and supportWhereas many families provide loving care and supportto their relatives living with HIV and AIDS, others rejectand stigmatise them. In such cases, psychosocial andemotional care and support – in the form of counselling,support groups and spiritual sustenance – are evenmore critical. Access to such support helps women andgirls living with HIV and AIDS to disclose their positivestatus, live positively and prevent HIV transmission. Italso helps to reduce the sense of shame andsubsequent isolation, providing information on life after apositive diagnosis. As Fatima, a widow living with HIVand AIDS in Jalilpur, West Bengal said:“Peer educators from Child in Need Institute(CINI) came for sensitisation talks in my villagepromoting VCT [voluntary counselling andtesting]. I developed interest and the next day Iwent to CINI for counselling. The counsellor wasgood to me and I thought, ‘there is actuallysomeone out here who cares to listen to myproblems’. She referred me to the South 24Parganas network for positive people. It was adream come true to actually join with women ofmy type. For a long time, I thought I was the onlyone in a basket full of problems. Everythingimproved since then; we started up a supportgroup and a small poultry farm. Life went on abit smoothly.” 159Box 5. Care and supportCare and support for people living with HIV and AIDS and their families can be categorised as fourinterrelated domains:1. Psychosocial – emotional support; spiritual support; counselling; bereavement support; reduction of stigmaand discrimination, and positive living.2. Medical – testing; treatment of AIDS-related illnesses and opportunistic infections, treatment information andtreatment adherence; prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases; nursing, home and palliativeend-of-life care; prevention of parent-to-child transmission; post-exposure prophylaxis; pre-exposure prophylaxisand management of opportunistic infections, including TB.3. Socio-economic – such as welfare provisions (stipends, cash transfers, grants, food parcels, incomegeneration, help in the home) and employment opportunities; orphan support; adoption services; nutrition;education.4. Human rights and legal – access to care and protection against violence and discrimination; land, propertyand inheritance rights; succession planning.Walking the talk putting women's rights at the heart of the HIV and AIDS response 37