Advertisement
The Body: The Complete HIV/AIDS Resource
Sign up for free e-mail updates!The Body en Espanol
  • E-mail E-Mail
  • Printer Friendly Printable Single-Page
  • Glossary Glossary
  • Bookmark and Share Share
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention • International News

UN Agencies Back Microcredit Agencies in Fight Against HIV/AIDS

November 14, 2002

UN agencies on Tuesday endorsed a call for microcredit institutions -- which extend small loans to entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans -- to branch out into adult education to help fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Women in the Third World represent more than three-quarters of the estimated 26.8 million poorest people who have microcredit. Advocates met in New York at the Microcredit Summit Plus Five conference, which was called to review progress toward the 1997 goal of providing finance to 100 million of the world's poorest people by 2005.

Chris Dunford, president of the California-based NGO Freedom from Hunger, said, "microfinance is a very powerful delivery system for complimentary services," and could be used to educate people about HIV/AIDS. The Foundation for Credit and Community Assistance in eastern Uganda, Dunford said, offers 13,048 village women information on health, nutrition, family planning and running small businesses. FFH has helped produce two training manuals to encourage changes in personal behavior to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, break down disease-related stigmas, and help in coping with "basic things such as preparing a will and ensuring that [clients] have legal ownership over their assets, so they can pass them on to their families," he said.

Microcreditors were also looking at loan insurance, said Dunford. "You cannot get life insurance if you are HIV-positive or if you have AIDS, so it helps to have a guarantee that your loan will be paid if you die," he said.

UNICEF Deputy Director Kul Gautam told the conference, "it would be a grave loss of an opportunity not to include information about HIV/AIDS into microcredit training." One of the benefits of microfinance is that it reduces domestic violence as women's self-esteem and status rise with increased earning power, he said.

Back to other CDC news for November 14, 2002

Previous Updates
 | Search the CDC archive

Adapted from:
Agence France Presse
11.12.02; Robert Holloway

This article was provided by U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is a part of the publication CDC HIV/Hepatitis/STD/TB Prevention News Update.
  • E-mail E-Mail
  • Printer Friendly Printable Single-Page
  • Glossary Glossary
  • Bookmark and Share Share

See Also
Read More About Global HIV/AIDS Organizations

 

Advertisement