Future | ICW NA | International Community of Women living with HIV

The Future

Future of ICW

As advances in the global struggle to end the HIV epidemic give rise to discourse that would remove HIV from the center of the global development agenda, ICW knows that women living with HIV still have a long way to go before the totality of our lived experiences has been recognized and responses that reflect our needs, hopes and desires have been implemented. Women living with HIV face inadequate and inappropriate treatment, care and support, blatant violations of their human rights, stigma and discrimination and often their needs are subordinated to the needs of their children.

Despite recent organizational restructuring, ICW and its affiliated regional networks have consistently delivered high quality advocacy, programming, expertise and direct support for women living with HIV around the world. Led by women living with HIV, ICW is uniquely positioned to enhance the effectiveness and relevance of AIDS responses reaching inadequately served women. ICW continues to hold both global decision making systems and organizations working on HIV/AIDS accountable to the needs of women living with HIV.

Since restructuring into autonomous regions in 2009, ICW has expanded our reach adding new ICW regional networks in the Middle Eastern and North African MENA) region, (the Caribbean, and in Western and Central African regions. ICW has changed laws and policies, led participatory research on sexual health and reproductive rights (SRHR), access to treatment, care and support (ACTS), and built a political voice for women living with HIV in Africa. We have emerged stronger and more focused and ICW remains universally recognized as the leading voice on issues impacting women living with HIV.

ICW is strong, relevant and poised to maximize the benefits of enhanced capacity and to address the needs of women living with HIV in the post-2015 agenda.

Together our voices are powerful. We are ICW!

See also

  • History

    Established in 1992 by women living with HIV in response to the consistent silencing and marginalizing of the concerns of women living with HIV.

  • Today

    Today, over 20 years later, ICW continues to be the only network run by and for women living with HIV. We work in 120 countries, through 10 regional networks.