ICRW Releases New How-to Guide on Reducing Violence and AIDS Stigma
Manual Provides Practical Tools for Community Groups in Developing Countries
WASHINGTON, D.C., May 3, 2006—The International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) recently released the HIV/AIDS Stigma and Violence Reduction Intervention (SVRI) manual, a how-to guide for community organizations working to reduce the spread of HIV and AIDS in developing countries.

“Stigma and gender-based violence fuel the HIV/AIDS pandemic by limiting access to and use of HIV/AIDS-related services for prevention, treatment, care and support,” says Nata Duvvury, Ph.D., one of the manual’s authors and director of ICRW’s work on gender, violence and rights. “HIV/AIDS programs that fail to consider stigma and gender-based violence can be only partially effective, at best.

“The SVRI manual provides communities with practical tools they can use to address stigma, violence and other barriers undercutting their efforts to fight HIV and AIDS,” she adds. The manual is based on findings from the Stigma and Violence Reduction Intervention project, conducted in Andhra Pradesh, India, from 2003 to 2005. ICRW staff worked with groups who experience stigma and violence – sex workers, truckers’ helpers and truckers’ spouses – to devise a community-appropriate intervention. Because these groups regularly interact with highly mobile people like truckers who are difficult to target for interventions, they can play an important role in changing norms that condone dangerous behaviors. The intervention is described in the manual, which also includes a toolkit detailing workshop agendas and distinct activities for various community groups.

“The SVRI project is significant because it shows that attitudes and behaviors that drive HIV stigma and gender-based violence can shift,” Duvvury says. “The key is involving communities to reflect on the problem and devise their own solutions. If they are empowered and motivated, change is possible.”

Nandini Prasad and Nanda Kishore, both of ICRW, co-wrote the report.

The International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) is a leading Washington, D.C.-based international research organization that works to improve the lives of women and girls in developing countries. Learn more about ICRW and its work at www.icrw.org.