What Works for Women and Girls

1. Expansion and scaling up of interventions promoting economic opportunities for womenare needed to increase their ability to refuse unsafe sex. Studies found that lack of incomeand jobs forced women to sell sex to survive, placing them at risk of HIV acquisition.Gap noted, for example, in Vietnam (Phinney, 2008); Brazil (Hebling and Guimaraes,2004); and South Africa (Susser and Stein, 2000).11E. Strengthening the Enabling Environment:Advancing EducationIncreasing the access of girls to education is critical to combating the AIDS pandemic. Educationof girls is associated with delayed marriage and childbearing, lower fertility, healthier babies,and increased earning potential. Analysis by the Global Campaign for Education estimatesthat seven million HIV infections in young people could be averted in a decade, if all childrencompleted primary school (Global Campaign for Education, 2004, cited in UNAIDS et al.,2004). The 2009 report of the Millennium Development Goals (UN, 2009) shows that inthe developing world, enrollment coverage was 88 percent in 2007, up from 83 percent in2000, but still not on track to reach the MDG Goal 2 of achieving universal primary education.Furthermore, in 2007, in the 171 countries with data, only 53 had achieved the target ofgender parity in education. An estimated “72 million children worldwide were denied the rightto education in 2007. Almost half of these children live in sub-Saharan Africa, followed bySouthern Asia, home to 18 million out-of-school children” (UN, 2009) It is estimated that halfor more of those children might never have any schooling.Education: The “Window of Hope” in HIV PreventionThe effectiveness of education as an HIV prevention strategy, which the World Bank calls the“window of hope,” rests upon two key components: (1) greater access to schooling and (2)using schools as a natural place to reach young people with AIDS education and life skillstraining—practical tools that help them stay safe (World Bank, 2002). “Data compared acrosscountries and regions and disaggregated by education levels show that young women and menwith higher levels of education are more likely to have increased knowledge about HIV/AIDS,a better understanding of ways to avoid infection, and an increased likelihood of changingbehaviour that puts them at risk of contracting the disease. Thus, it is clear that ensuringquality education for all children is one of the best ways to protect both the rights and thelives of young people threatened by HIV/AIDS” (UNICEF, 2004a). Comprehensive sex education,covered in Chapter 5. Prevention for Young People, is also an important component of HIVprevention planning.DHS surveys from 11 countries found that women with some schooling were nearly fivetimes as likely as uneducated women to have used a condom the last time they had sexualintercourse (Global Campaign for Education, 2004). Literate women are three times more322 CHAPTER 11 STRENGTHENING THE ENABLING ENVIRONMENT