Zero New Infections, Zero Discrimination, Zero AIDS
Related Deaths:
How these Slogans and Communiqués Reflect the World of
the Elites in the HIV Industrial Complex
Nesha Z. Haniff PhD MPH
University of Michigan, Jamaica Aids Support for Life
“It is not our role to speak to the
people about our own view of
the world, nor to attempt to
impose that view on them but
rather to dialogue with the
people about their view and
ours”
(Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed).
(Rosie & Tonya discussing Microbicides in Jamaica)
ZERO
 The word zero is
understandable in Jamaican
communities but is not a
word we use in everyday
parlance.
 “Getting real about getting to
the end of AIDS”
 The Robert Carr Lecture
given by Stephen Lewis
“Getting to ZERO
BULLSHIT: Calling HIV
Stigma what it is: Racism
Classism, Misogyny,
Homophobia, Elitism”.
Dr. Robert Carr
 “Let us all be proud. A year ago, skeptics said
that getting to zero was just a slogan. But
countries, partners and people around the
world have embraced the vision and are now
working to translate it into reality. Our vision
of zero has truly come to life and grown legs”.
 So when Big people ah come and say Zero,
dem MUS a mek joke .You cannot be real in
the community with “zero” bullshit.
 “It is not our role to speak to the people about
our own view of the world, nor to attempt to
impose that view on them but rather to
dialogue with the people about their view and
ours” (Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the
Oppressed).
(Joan Didier, St. Lucia)
Getting to zero: Time to shape our destiny: Speech by UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé on the
occasion of the 29th Meeting of the Programme Coordinating Board, 13 December 2011
Women & HIV
Women 15–24 years old comprise 26% of
all the people acquiring HIV infection
 The national prevalence of forced first sex
among adolescent girls younger than 15
years ranges between 11% and 45%
globally
http://www.unaids.org/en/media/unaids/contentassets/documents/document/20
11/06/20110601_HLM_Pannel4.pdf
 Girls and women still make up six out of
ten of the world’s poorest people, while
two thirds of people who cannot read or
write are women. Only 40 per cent of
people in paid employment are women and
they are typically paid less and have less
secure employment than men.
http://www.dfid.gov.uk/news/press-releases/2011/mitchell-investing-in-girlscan-stop-poverty/ /
Global Fund
 The Global Fund itself is a driver of the neglect of
women. The funding policies of the global Fund have
prioritized attention to the most marginalized groups.
 These priorities shape the research, therefore the data
provided justifies the funding for the most marginalized
groups.
 In Jamaica for example. Funding priorities are given to
three groups, msm, sex workers and unattached youth.
Shape of the Evidence
Jamaica
 90% of HIV infection in
Jamaica is through
heterosexual intercourse.
 In 2008, the ministry of health
reported the infection rates for
girls 15-19 to be almost four
times that of the number of
infections in boys
 The only youth that is
prioritized is the unattached
youth.
http://jamaica-nap.org/pdf/epi-update-tables-jan-to-jun08.pdf
Shape of the Evidence Guyana
 The Biologic Behavioral Surveillance
Survey (BBSS) 2009 showed a sharp
decrease (38%) in the HIV prevalence
among female sex workers (FSWs), from
26.6 percent (BBSS, 2005) to 16.6 percent
(BBSS, 2009).
 In contrast only a slight decrease was
observed among MSM, from 21.2 percent
(BBSS, 2005) to 19.4 percent (BBSS, 2009).
 HIV prevalence among pregnant
women was 0.88 percent in 2010 and 1.08
percent in 2011 (PMTCT programme data).
In 2010, 5.8 percent of babies born to HIVpositive mothers were infected with HIV and
1.9 percent in 2011
http://www.traveladventures.org/continents/southamerica/guyanese-people02.shtml
http://www.unaids.org/en/dataanalysis/monitoringcountryprogress/progressreports/2012count
ries/ce_GY_Narrative_Report[1].pdf
The Demise of Women’s
Organizations
Joyce Gordon
WE SUFFER ON THE FRONTLINES FROM A PAUCITY OF INTELLECTUAL
CAPITAL
 On the ground in the communities in the Caribbean, the demise of women’s
organizations.
 We suffer on the front line from a paucity of intellectual capital. Women’s issues
today are largely the purvey of academics and professional women who set up
centers and do research and write about women. We have to be vigilant about
pseudo activism.
Photo Karen Sudu http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20100809/lead/lead4.html
Putting Women’s Bodies at
the
Center of Science
 At the heart of reducing the HIV
epidemic in women is the development of
technologies of prevention for women
that are user friendly and empowering
that promote choice.

We need a policy that puts women at
the center of science. The most effective
method to prevent HIV is a condom
which women must negotiate, a female
condom must also be negotiated.

It is unfeminist to accept a female
condom without understanding and
acknowledging that it is a flipped out
male condom, and unfriendly to women’s
bodies.
 The great work being done by South
African Scientists, Quarraisha and Salim
Abdool Karim must be supported.
 The progress made in vaginal
Microbicides must be supported.
(Dr. Salim & Dr. Quarraisha Abdool Karim CAPRISA South
Africa) http://www.aidstruth.org/features/2009/south-africaneeds-hivaids-truth-commission
Recommendations
The problems we face in curbing the HIV
epidemic in women at the community level
requires the following:
 More intellectual capital in supporting the
building and sustainability of women’s
organizations
 More funds earmarked for such work
 The agendas of grass roots organizations
should not be just teaching women skills and
crafts but advocacy that is politicized and
informed by a feminist consciousness
 All women must advocate for new
http://www.jamaicaart.com/Original%20images/
Haitia/Market-Abstract.jpg
technologies, advocacy should not be just where
trials are conducted. Women across the world
intuitively understand this need. We live with
imperfect technologies in and on our bodies
everyday
We Should Not Be Treated As Objects To Be Rescued From A
Burning Building
 The power of the paradigm of science and
scientific research cannot be changed by the
gender of the scientist but by a revolutionary
shift in putting women’s bodies at the center
of scientific discovery.
 We privileged women cannot have women’s
movement by ourselves. We cannot have a
women’s movement without the women.
 The global fund cannot arrive at
approximating zero infections in women
without sustained funding for women.

We will not have sustained funding unless
we make our governments and representatives
stand up for us.
 We should not be treated as objects to be
rescued from a burning building

This will not happen unless we build strong
women’s movements on the ground.
(Annesha, Jamaica)
References
Getting to zero: Time to shape our destiny: Speech by
UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé on the occasion
of the 29th Meeting of the Programme Coordinating Board,
13 December 2011
Getting to zero: Time to shape our destiny: Speech by
UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé on the occasion
of the 29th Meeting of the Programme Coordinating Board,
13 December 2011
http://www.unaids.org/en/media/unaids/contentassets/docu
ments/document/2011/06/20110601_HLM_Pannel4.pdf
http://www.dfid.gov.uk/news/press-releases/2011/mitchellinvesting-in-girls-can-stop-poverty/
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2010/gaab3974.doc.ht
m
http://jamaica-nap.org/pdf/epi-update-tables-jan-to-jun08.pdf
http://www.unaids.org/en/dataanalysis/monitoringcountrypro
gress/progressreports/2012countries/ce_GY_Narrative_Rep
ort[1].pdf
http://www.avert.org/global-fund.htm#contentTable
http://www.unaids.org/en/media/unaids/contentassets/docu
ments/unaidspublication/2010/20100226_jc1794_agenda_fo
r_accelerated_country_action_en.pdf
http://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2010/05/26/st-josephhigh-hosts-cultural-day/