Although the wellbeing of women is critical for the development of healthy families, women and girls lack access to the most basic forms of healthcare services and are the most at risk for sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS. Our grants ensure the delivery of essential health services and combat harmful traditional practices and public policies. Over the last five years, the Global Fund for Women has awarded 600 grants totaling more than $6.8 million to women’s group’s supporting health initiatives like these:

Grantee: Cornerstone Vision Center

Location: Mankon, Cameroon

Situation: Mankon is located in the province with the highest HIV rate in Cameroon, where three women are infected for every two men. Patriarchal attitudes deny women the authority to negotiate condom use during sex, and HIV rates continue to climb. As the poorest of the poor, women with AIDS cannot afford treatment.

Program: Beginning in 2002 as a fitness club, Cornerstone Vision Center has since grown into a center for women’s health. Through fitness training and nutritional counseling for over 200 people a month, the center has helped women prioritize their health. The group serves rural and urban women, women and girls living with HIV/AIDS, and pregnant and nursing mothers.

Total GFW Grants: $14,500

Grantee: ICW LATINA Comunidad Internacional de Mujeres Viviendo con VIH-SIDA (International Community of Women living with HIV/AIDS, Latin America)

Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina

Situation: In Latin America, an estimated 1.6 million people live with HIV, with women comprising 51% of HIV-infected adults. In 2006, approximately 50,000 people died of AIDS and 140,000 were newly infected.

Program: ICW Latina strives to provide public spaces in which HIV-positive women can voice their perspectives and solutions for how to improve their quality of life. In October 2006, ICW Latina organized the First Latin American and Caribbean Congress of Women, Girls and Adolescents with HIV/AIDS in Panama, which brought together women from the region who have been marginalized from decision-making spaces. Recently, the group launched its own magazine, No Estás Sola [You are Not Alone], for women and children living with HIV/AIDS.

Total GFW Grants: $55,000

Grantee: KONTRA

Location: Zagreb, Croatia

Situation: In a country where Catholic and patriarchal values continue to dominate political decisions and public opinion, many lesbians find themselves the object of discrimination.

Program: The group holds workshops on coming out, LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) discrimination, and lesbian identity. Lobbying in press conferences, tv shows, and public demonstrations has led to four progressive LGBT rights laws, including the Law on Sex Equality and the legalization of same-sex civil unions in 2003.

Total GFW Grants: $96,300