Power To: Multiple Vulnerabilities, Trafficking, HIV & AIDS in South Asia

Abstract

HIV and AIDS and trafficking are all growing global development challenges. Whilst HIV and AIDS and trafficking affect men, women and children globally, both phenomena have disproportionately affected women and girl children. The vulnerability of women and girls to HIV and AIDS and trafficking is largely a product of an inequitable society, the impact of economic policies, global disparities in power, and uneven access to and control of resources. HIV and AIDS and trafficking, as two growing social issues, present communities, nations and regions with huge challenges. The linkages between them create even greater challenges that must firstly be recognized and secondly understood if the design of the response is to facilitate the kind of change needed. These linkages demand a response that makes the best possible use of lessons learned elsewhere to ensure results in the shorter term and clear impacts for those most vulnerable in the medium to longer term.

1.This chapter is based on research carried out in five countries in South Asia (Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) between October and December 2003 for UNDP REACH Programme.