Walking the Talk - VSO

2) The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis andMalaria must improve expertise on women’s rightsat all levels of the decision-making process anddevelop adequate indicators to monitor thatcountry coordinating mechanisms are reflecting thepriorities and rights of women and girls.3) The World Health Organization should leadmultilateral organisations, donors and governmentsin recognising secondary care providers as workerswith a right to a fair wage. To do so, they have tostart by revising the current classification of healthworkers to include all non volunteer secondarycare providers.Developing country governments1) National governments must base national AIDSplans on a rights-based analysis of the barriersfaced by women and girls in regard to HIVprevention, treatment, care and support services.This must have the participation of women andgirls, living with and affected by HIV and AIDS, atits heart.2) National governments must provide training andfunding and put systems in place to ensure thatadequate staffing, diagnostics, medicines and otherprovisions are made to treat opportunisticinfections that particularly affect women and girls,such as cervical cancer.3) National governments must develop, fund andimplement their national treatment plans andbudgets with a strong emphasis on women andgirls, particularly women and girls in poor and ruralcommunities, in order to achieve universal accessto treatment.Civil society organisations1) Civil society must ensure that a women’s rightsapproach is at the heart of their HIV and AIDSprogrammatic interventions and political advocacy.2) Civil society must create and/or strengthen local,national and regional community- and home-basedcare alliances, to allow care providers to shareknowledge, skills and resources.A look to the futureScaling up towards universal access demands a newapproach that goes beyond mere rhetoric to make areal difference on the ground. Indeed, only a few yearsago, the very concept of universal access was not evenon the radar of governments, donors or multilaterals.Now, it represents an international public commitmentto which the majority of governments have agreed.While the current reality of implementation may bedifferent, the process itself has the potential to effectsignificant change.The next step is for governments to commit to gendersensitive, measurable and time-bound indicators andtargets for scaling up access in all areas of prevention,treatment, care and support.With political will, proper resources, and the cooperationof multiple stakeholders, we can stem the course of thepandemic. The lives of millions of women and girlsdepend on it.Walking the talk putting women's rights at the heart of the HIV and AIDS response 51