This text is an executive summary of the assessment of the need for adequate inclusion of the gender perspective in the National HIV/AIDS response of R. Macedonia.1 Starting from the initial evaluation that gender aspects are not sufficiently present in the National response2 and that the gender dimension should become its integral part, the purpose of this study is to present and demonstrate the main premises of a gender-integrating approach to HIV/ AIDS.
From the perspective of the expertise present in the study, classical approaches3 of risk assessments and vulnerability to HIV are inappropriate for the treatment and understanding of the topic of gender vulnerability and HIV/ AIDS. To understand the influence of gender and gender relations on HIV transmission, structural characteristics shaping and determining that influence should be taken into consideration, of social, economic and political nature, including analytical categories that surpass the individual approach of a behaviourist analysis.
Read the complete Executive Summary: Assessment of gender related issues and their connection to the risk of HIV/AIDS and the barriers conditioning the equal access to adequate HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment services.