Media

For Immediate Release:
September 22, 2004

Contact: Adrienne Verrilli
212-819-9770 ext. 325

SIECUS Releases International Newsletter: Making the Connection - News and Views on Sexuality: Education, Health and Rights

New York, NY - The Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U.S (SIECUS) is proud to announce the release of its international newsletter, Making the Connection - News and Views on Sexuality: Education, Health and Rights.

In his address to the U.N. General Assembly yesterday, President Bush touted his Administration's increased involvement in global HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and care efforts. This strategy, however, contains several provisions that are of deep concern to advocates, researchers, and service providers seeking to promote reproductive and sexual health and rights worldwide.

For example, while the U.S. strategy mentions the particular vulnerability of women and girls, it contains no substantive strategies to address their predicament. Instead the strategy promotes abstinence-only-until-marriage programs as the preferred method of HIV-prevention. These programs not only fail to address gender inequality but also promote dangerous gender stereotypes. Most notably, they are based on the idea that "marriage" alone will protect people from becoming infected with HIV. Ironically, in the areas of the world where the U.S. Strategy office funding, married, monogamous women are the fastest growing risk group.

This issue of Making the Connection looks at some of the relationship structures that make women, especially young women and girls, uniquely vulnerable to HIV infection.

In this Issue:

Young Women, Older Men, and the Spread of HIV in Africa
Too Young to Wed: Child Marriage in Their Own Words
The Silver Ring Thing: Just One Example of Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs Going Global
The International Mail-Order Bride Industry: An Increasing Threat to Women

For the latest issue of Making the Connection, go to http://www.siecus.org/inter/connection/Connection3_2.pdf

If you are interested in speaking with a SIECUS expert on any of the above issues, please contact Adrienne Verrilli, Director of Communications, at (212) 819-9770 ext. 325.

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