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Alcohol: The Forgotten Drug in HIV/AIDS

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ICRW Expert and Colleagues Highlight Links for Special Lancet Series
Wed, 07/21/2010
By ICRW Communications Staff

Patterns of hazardous alcohol consumption exist in countries with the worst HIV epidemics, most notably Southern and Eastern Africa, according to “Alcohol: The Forgotten Drug in HIV/AIDS,” a comment for a special series of The Lancet.

Patterns of hazardous alcohol consumption exist in countries with the worst HIV epidemics, most notably Southern and Eastern Africa, according to ICRW expert Katherine Fritz and colleagues in, “Alcohol: The Forgotten Drug in HIV/AIDS,” a comment for a special series of The Lancet.

The authors also highlight the risk to women who sell and serve alcohol in bars, hotels and other venues “who are at increased risk of drinking alcohol themselves, engaging in unprotected sex with their clients and HIV infection.” They conclude that gender and alcohol researchers should work jointly to determine ways of integrating gender into programs designed to reduce alcohol-related sexual-risk behavior, which might offer valuable lessons to the field of HIV and substance-use research.

The Lancet special series focuses on the growing HIV epidemic among people who use drugs and was launched July 20 in Vienna at the XVIII International AIDS Conference.

Download full text of "Alcohol: The Forgotten Drug in HIV/AIDS" at The Lancet »
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Improving the Well-Being of Married Adolescent Girls in Ethiopia

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In Ethiopia’s Amhara region, almost half of all girls are married by the age of 15. By the time they turn 18, nearly three out of four girls are married. Early marriage presents many health risks for these girls that are compounded by their lack of economic autonomy.

To address this vulnerability, ICRW is working with CARE Ethiopia to improve the sexual and reproductive health and economic well-being of adolescent girls by combining health programs with economic empowerment interventions to reach 5,000 married girls in Amhara.

ICRW is evaluating the intervention by comparing an implementation model that combines both reproductive health and economic empowerment training to models that provide each in isolation and against a comparison group receiving no programming. The goal is to better understand the potential synergies between health and economic interventions and outcomes. The core indicators being examined include changes in girls’ sexual and reproductive health, such as their use of contraceptives, and changes in their economic independence, such as whether they use savings accounts. Through exploring these questions, the project aims to offer tested best practices to apply in future programs for girls.

Duration: 
2009 - 2013
Location(s): 
Ethiopia

Advancing Women's Leadership

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ICRW is working to equip a group of women from around the world with the skills they need to lead the global response to HIV and AIDS. The initiative provides women leaders, including women living with HIV, with training sessions to hone leadership and advocacy skills, exchange best practices and learn about innovative responses to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. By empowering women with these skills, they will be able to develop and advocate for more effective HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, care and support.

ICRW will design, conduct and evaluate the leadership training programs, which will be implemented by a consortium led by the Center for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA). In order to encourage a holistic response to HIV/AIDS, ICRW also will build the capacity of women leaders to conduct gender analyses of HIV programs as well as to recognize and address HIV-related stigma and gender-based violence. ICRW will evaluate the impact of the trainings through a series of in-depth case studies of select women leaders.

Duration: 
2006 - 2011
Location(s): 
Mexico
Location(s): 
Kenya
Location(s): 
Nigeria
Location(s): 
Nepal
Related Publications: 
Redistributing Power

Sarah Degnan Kambou Appointed ICRW President

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Former Chief Operating Officer to Lead
Mon, 06/14/2010

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The board of directors of the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) announced today that it has appointed accomplished social scientist Sarah Degnan Kambou president of the organization, effective immediately. Degnan Kambou served for two years as ICRW’s chief operating officer (COO) under Geeta Rao Gupta, and then as interim president and COO after Rao Gupta stepped down in April this year.

Degnan Kambou is ICRW’s fourth president in its 30-year history.

Sarah Degnan Kambou ICRW president“After meeting with many accomplished individuals from around the world, the board unanimously decided that Sarah was the best candidate,” said Jeanne Warner, ICRW board chair. “Sarah’s deep knowledge of the institution, her expertise in gender and development and her innovative vision for the organization will ensure ICRW’s continued leadership in empowering women and promoting gender equality.”

A 25-year veteran in the field, Degnan Kambou joined ICRW in 2002. As COO, she led the organization’s research and programs, finance and human resources departments as well as ICRW’s Asia Regional Office in New Delhi, India. Before that, she was vice president of health and development, overseeing research in HIV and AIDS, reproductive health and nutrition as well as in gender, violence and women’s rights.

Degnan Kambou came to ICRW after more than a decade living in sub-Saharan Africa, where she managed signature programs for CARE, a humanitarian relief and development organization. Among her notable achievements, Degnan Kambou established the CARE country office in Cote d’Ivoire during the civil conflict and designed community-led reproductive health programs in post-conflict Rwanda, Sudan and Somaliland.

She also worked for eight years as a director of international health in the School of Public Health at Boston University. While there, Degnan Kambou directed intensive trainings for international health professionals, managed collaborative programs in China and Nepal and consulted widely across South and Southeast Asia.

Degnan Kambou recently was appointed by United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to represent ICRW on the U.S. National Commission for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

“I am honored to lead ICRW,” Degnan Kambou said. “I believe in ICRW and its unique ability to influence the global discourse on gender and development. All people – women and men, boys and girls – deserve a safer, more equitable and just world. Informed by the breadth of ICRW’s research, the energy of our experts and our unfailing commitment to empowering women, I believe that achieving meaningful social change in many parts of the world is within our grasp.”

Related Link:
Q&A: ICRW President Sarah Degnan Kambou »

Media Contact: 
Jeannie Bunton, 202.742.1316, jbunton@icrw.org
Mission Statement: 

ICRW's mission is to empower women, advance gender equality and fight poverty in the developing world. To accomplish this, ICRW works with partners to conduct empirical research, build capacity and advocate for evidence-based, practical ways to change policies and programs.

What Men Have to Do With It

What Men Have to Do With It
Public Policies to Promote Gender Equality

Gary Barker, Margaret E. Greene, Eve Goldstein-Siegel, Marcos Nascimento, Márcio Segundo, Christine Ricardo, Juan Guillermo Figueroa, Josefina Franzoni, Jean Redpath, Robert Morrell, Rachel Jewkes, Dean Peacock, Francisco Aguayo, Michelle Sadler, Abhijit Das, Satish Kumar Singh, Anand Pawar, Peter Pawlak
2010

Most policies that strive for equality still focus exclusively on empowering women and neglect the role that men can play in the effort. This report summarizes how policies of seven countries (Brazil, Chile, India, Mexico, South Africa, Norway and Tanzania) involve men in gender equality goals. The study also examines whether the policies address social norms that reinforce traditional perceptions of what it means to be a man. The authors analyze advances, challenges and remaining gaps in a range of policy arenas, such as public security, health, livelihoods and engaging men as fathers and caregivers.

This policy analysis is a component of the Men and Gender Equality Policy Project coordinated by ICRW and Instituto Promundo.

(1.74 MB)

We encourage the use and dissemination of our publications for non-commercial, educational purposes. Portions may be reproduced with acknowledgment to the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW). For questions, please contact publications@icrw.org; or (202) 797-0007.

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ICRW Names Interim President

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Sarah Degnan Kambou Takes Helm in Transition
Wed, 04/07/2010

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The board of directors of the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) has named Sarah Degnan Kambou as interim president of the organization, effective April 12. The transition comes as Geeta Rao Gupta steps down April 9 after 20 years with the organization, 13 as its president. Degnan Kambou will carry out interim duties while the board continues its search for a new president.   
 
Degnan Kambou has served as ICRW’s chief operating officer since 2008, and before that was vice president of the health and development group which comprised three research portfolios focusing on gender, HIV and AIDS, reproductive health and nutrition, and gender, violence and rights. Prior to joining ICRW, Degnan Kambou served with CARE in West and Southern Africa for more than a decade. She also worked for eight years at Boston University’s School of Public Health, managing the Center for International Health.  
 
In addition to her new duties, Degnan Kambou will continue in her current capacity as ICRW’s chief operating officer where she oversees the organization’s research and programs, finance and administration and human resources departments as well as ICRW’s Asia Regional Office.
 
“We are pleased that Sarah will take on this leadership role,” said Jeanne Warner, chair of ICRW’s board. “Her deep knowledge of the institution combined with her expertise in gender and development are the right blend of qualities necessary to steer the organization during this interim period.”  
 
“This is a remarkable time for ICRW as the world is paying more attention to the role that women and girls can play in advancing economies and societies and, increasingly, how to engage men and boys when it comes to the issue of gender equality,” Degnan Kambou said. “We are dedicated to this mission by building on our strong body of research to create the solutions for lasting change.”  
 

Media Contact: 
Jeannie Bunton, 202.742.1316, Jbunton@icrw.org
Mission Statement: 

ICRW's mission is to empower women, advance gender equality and fight poverty in the developing world. To accomplish this, ICRW works with partners to conduct empirical research, build capacity and advocate for evidence-based, practical ways to change policies and programs.

Kenyan Women Farmers and Agricultural Experts Share Needs, Successes

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ICRW Captures Lessons for Agricultural Policy
Mon, 04/05/2010
By Gillian Gaynair

Women farmers in Kenya are hungry for innovative, concrete business ideas. They need more access to credit, training, technical assistance and resources such as fertilizer and seeds. And they’re eager to learn practical ways to invest their savings.

Women farmers in Kenya are hungry for innovative, concrete business ideas. They need more access to credit, training, technical assistance and resources such as fertilizer and seeds. And they’re eager to learn practical ways to invest their savings.

That’s just some of what experts from the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) heard from Kenyan women farmers, the organizations that work with them and local technical experts during a recent visit to Nairobi. ICRW aimed to learn from women what they need and what has worked to improve their agricultural productivity and marketability.

ICRW’s David Kauck, Rekha Mehra and Bell Okello organized the visit on the heels of President Barack Obama’s new global food security initiative, which commits to using agricultural development as a way to fuel economic growth and alleviate poverty in developing countries. The effort also strives to improve the productivity and market access of small-scale farmers, who, like in Kenya and elsewhere worldwide, are most often women. The initiative will work with other national governments, citizens and donors to help countries develop their own national strategies to boost agricultural productivity and curb hunger.

“The administration wants a real consultative process, and we’ve essentially taken this at face value,” said Kauck, a gender and agriculture specialist who spent more than a decade addressing agricultural issues in Africa. “Our hope is that we’re going to stimulate discourse in Kenya that will feed into the national planning level processes. But we’re also trying to capture lessons which will feed up to policy makers in the U.S.”

Indeed, through the discussions ICRW learned more about proven farming practices in Kenya that are already benefiting women including experiments with niche commodities such as mushrooms. Kauck said that there appears to be a market for the fungi, which does not require land, but can be grown in a shed.

“We’re looking for ways to help women farmers be heard,” Kauck said. “If we could become a conduit for them, that would be good.”

Gillian Gaynair is ICRW's writer/editor.

Women, Food Security and Agriculture in a Global Marketplace

Women, Food Security and Agriculture in a Global Marketplace
A Significant Shift

Rekha Mehra, Mary Hill Rojas
2008

New directions in development assistance and agricultural investments must recognize and support women's involvement in the full agricultural value chain from production to processing to marketing. This report reviews current thinking and practice on increasing agricultural productivity, both subsistence and commercial agriculture, and examines what is known about women's roles in both sectors.

(1.15 MB)

We encourage the use and dissemination of our publications for non-commercial, educational purposes. Portions may be reproduced with acknowledgment to the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW). For questions, please contact publications@icrw.org; or (202) 797-0007.

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Intimate Partner Violence

Intimate Partner Violence
High Cost to Households and Communities

Nata Duvvury, Aslihan Kes, Swati Chakraborty, Noni Milici, Sarah Ssewanyana, Frederick Mugisha, Winnie Nabiddo, M.A. Mannan, Selim Raihan, Simeen Mahmud, and Rahma Bourqia, Kamal Mellakh, Ibenrissoul Abdelmajid, Mhammed Abderebbi, Rachida Nafaa, Jamila Be
2009

ICRW and its partners, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC) in Uganda and Hassan II University in Morocco, with support from UNFPA, undertook a three-country study in Bangladesh, Morocco and Uganda to estimate the economic costs of intimate partner violence at the household and community levels, where its impact is most direct and immediate. The focus on intimate partner violence was motivated by the fact that this is the most common form of violence against women. A household and community level analysis helps to shed light on intimate partner violence's relationship to both household economic vulnerability and the extent to which scarce public resources for essential health, security and infrastructure services are diverted due to such violence.

(1.12 MB)

We encourage the use and dissemination of our publications for non-commercial, educational purposes. Portions may be reproduced with acknowledgment to the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW). For questions, please contact publications@icrw.org; or (202) 797-0007.

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A Leadership Strategy for Reducing Hunger and Malnutrition in Africa

A Leadership Strategy for Reducing Hunger and Malnutrition in Africa

Charlotte Johnson-Welch, Kerry MacQuarrie, Sandra Bunch
2005

The Agriculture-Nutrition Advantage project was implemented over a three-year period, from 2001 to 2004, to cultivate a network of leaders and advocates in sub-Saharan Africa who would promote an approach to combating hunger that is effective but rarely used in practice: linking agriculture and nutrition, while also accounting for gender. This report provides outcomes and key recommendations of the project.

(1.37 MB)

We encourage the use and dissemination of our publications for non-commercial, educational purposes. Portions may be reproduced with acknowledgment to the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW). For questions, please contact publications@icrw.org; or (202) 797-0007.

Terms and Conditions »

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