Remarkable progress has been made in the fight against HIV/AIDS since the first annual World AIDS Day was commemorated 26 years ago.

Today ICW reminds GLOBAL POLICY MAKERS that there is no ending AIDS by 2030 without the involvement of women.

On this World AIDS Day (WAD 2015) ICW commemorates our sisters in the struggle who we have lost to AIDS. In their memory we work to raise awareness about
the status of the pandemic, and to encourage progress in HIV and AIDS prevention, treatment, care and support. The theme of this year’s World AIDS
Day, ‘Getting to Zero – Zero New HIV Infections, Zero Discrimination and Zero AIDS Related Deaths,’ underscores the urgent need to ensure
access to treatment for all, end stigma and discrimination and ensure sufficient, and sustained domestic financial resources for HIV.

Millennium Development Goals (MDG 6);-Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases has been met and exceeded. The global response to HIV has averted 30
million new HIV infections and nearly 8 million (7.8 million) AIDS-related deaths since the MDGs were implemented.

Despite these advances, HIV still remains the leading cause of death among women of reproductive age, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa where UNAIDS has
reported an increase in new infections, particularly among adolescent girls and young women aged 10 – 24 years. Women continue to face intersectional
burdens of HIV and gender inequality, and experience high levels of violence, stigma, harmful attitudes, discrimination and violations of their human
rights including their sexual and reproductive health and rights. Women in key populations face a disproportionately high burden of HIV, particularly
sex workers, women who use drugs, transgender women, and women from Indigenous
communities. Denial of the fundamental human rights of women, persistent inequality and persecution of key populations are driving the epidemic in
places such as Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Global leadership have set a visionary goal to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030. It is clear that unless the structural inequities that impact women and girls
and unless women are at the center of efforts to get to zero these ambitious targets will remain a vision rather than a reality.

On this World AIDS Day, we remember our sisters in the struggle and issue a call to action to:

• Invest in the use of research and gender disaggregated data for decision-making;
• Ensure that women living with HIV can realize their full human, sexual reproductive health and rights, and live free from stigma and discrimination;
• Governments to repeal, and civil society to push back against, punitive laws that continue to discriminate against and promote violence towards key
  populations of women living with HIV;

We ask all our Governments and donors to invest in networks of women living with HIV and civil society to educate, advocate, reduce stigma, and reduce
HIV transmission.

NOTHING FOR US WITH OUT US!!