International Women’s Day - March 8, 2007

Infectious Diseases

For decades, USAID has been a leader in the control and prevention of infectious diseases as part of long standing efforts in maternal health, child survival, and HIV/AIDS. Healthy women live more productive lives and have healthier families. USAID's Infectious Disease Program works in the following areas helping women to healthily and comfortably remain cornerstones of their communities.

• Development and implementation of strategies and interventions to understand, contain and respond to the development and spread of antimicrobial resistance
• Sustainable reduction in incidence of tuberculosis among key populations in selected countries
• Sustainable reduction of deaths due to malaria and incidence of other infectious diseases of major public health importance among key populations in selected countries
• Improvement in the capacity of selected countries to obtain and use good quality data for surveillance and effective response to infectious diseases

Malaria

• Antimalarial Drugs Save Tanzanian Girl's Life
  Malaria, a disease responsible for one million African deaths annually, can infect anyone, however, it is the most detrimental to pregnant women and children under five, like little Zainabu the Tanzanian girl in this story. Through the President's Malaria Initiative, USAID has increased its funding to perform indoor residual spraying and to buy lifesaving commodities to combat malaria like long-lasting insecticide treated nets and antimalarial drugs, like the ones that saved Zainabu and thousands of others like her.

Tuberculosis

• A "On Spot" Treatment for Tuberculosis
  Over one-third of the world is infected with tuberculosis, a life-threatening disease that usually attacks the lungs. If left untreated the disease is often fatal and while there are few cases in the United States, it remains one of the top killers in Eastern Europe with a tremendous social stigma. Please read below to see how women in Georgia are overcoming this stigma, finding effective treatment and stopping the spread of this deadly disease.

HIV/AIDS

Women and girls make up a growing proportion of those infected by HIV/AIDS. Since the inception of its international HIV/AIDS program in 1986, USAID has supported activities that address issues facing women and HIV/AIDS. From almost 100 bilateral programs to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, USAID has worked consistently to help women and girls gain control of their economic and social lives. USAID Focuses on Women and HIV

• A Story of Triumph Over Tradition
  Listen for a few moments to HIV-positive widow Betty Tom and you’ll immediately understand the incredible journey she’s faced. On November 28, 2006, the South African Broadcast Corporation chronicled Tom’s story in “My Dead Husband’s Land,” a riveting Internews documentary illustrating a true transformation in women’s inheritance and property rights in the Kenyan village of Orongo. Through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, USAID’s Health Policy Initiative has supported major efforts to help AIDS-infected and affected women of this village keep and recover their land, changing the face of longstanding tradition. On the shores of Lake Victoria, these women are telling their story with courage, compassion and candor.
  


• A Support Network for New Mothers
  The women of South Africa know the value of a support network. In particular, a support network for HIV-positive pregnant women. This is just the work undertaken by Mothers-to-Mothers-To-Be, a South African organization funded by USAID through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Female mentors who work for Mother-to-Mothers-To-Be befriend young women, teaching them how to live with HIV. The program bridges the gap between awareness and education. It addresses issues of stigma and gives women hope and a future. Ideally, the program can stop the cycle of HIV/AIDS by keeping an HIV-positive mother from passing the disease onto her unborn baby. In March 2006, mentors from Mothers-to-Mothers-To-Be visited the U.S., and were honored by First Lady Laura Bush.