From Our Lips: The MAC AIDS Fund speaks up for women, AIDS and HIV

THE MESSAGE: FROM OUR LIPS

Between us girls….you know you’ve got a sexy voice…use it! Let’s talk about the kind of relationships we want to have, and how to keep it safe, seductive and satisfying. And don’t forget, every cent from the sale of MAC Viva Glam Lipstick and Lipglass goes toward helping women, men and kids everywhere affected by HIV and AIDS. Viva Glam is the main source of funding for The MAC AIDS Fund. MAC’s spokes models, makeup artists and entire MAC family are fiercely committed to the cause.

THE (HUSH-HUSH) ISSUE: WOMEN, AIDS & HIV

Forget the stereotypes. Women are more likely to become infected with HIV than men. While the overall rate of new HIV infections has slowed, the number of women infected with HIV is growing. And in every part of the world. In sub-Saharan Africa, six out of every ten adults living with HIV are women and, even more disturbing – three out of four young people between the ages of 15-24 are infected. In the United States, where there are far more resources for HIV prevention and care, the number of women living with HIV has tripled since 1985; more African American women between the ages of 18-35 die from AIDS than from any other illness. Now is the time to make a difference for women.

WHY WOMEN?

Simply said, women are more vulnerable – financially, socially, biologicaly. Women tend to have less social and financial power in their relationships with men, compromising their abilities to negotiate safer sex and fueling the exchange of sexual favors for money and other forms of support. In addition, because of the biological structure of women’s bodies, they are two times as likely to acquire HIV as a result of having unprotected sex with an infected man as men are with infected women. And we now know from new research that HIV attacks women’s bodies more quickly and harshly than it does men, with more devastating effects.

Sadly, funding, programs and action are not keeping pace with this growing epidemic of HIV among women. Only about half (53%) of countries report budget allocations specifically devoted to HIV-related programs for women. And the formal and informal community networks that have helped to curb HIV infection in some areas are now losing some of their most vibrant supporters.

THE SUPPORT FROM OUR LIPS

Since the very early days of the AIDS epidemic, women have been heroes – as advocates, activists, healers, legislators, and program designers. These women have volunteered to join the fight and support people living with the virus, often because they had lost children, parents, friends or lovers to the disease, and because they felt they could make a difference. And they have.

In honor of all the women who are living with the virus and those working to curb its spread, the M·A·C AIDS Fund is pleased to announce $2.5 million in new donations to support efforts waged by women and on behalf of women. From Our Lips energizes women and answers the needs of an important, underserved population with HIV and AIDS.

From Our Lips focuses on global HIV hot spots like South Africa, the Caribbean and the United States’rural South and Washington, D.C.  It supports programs in regions that are confronting the complicated causes of HIV infection in women and girls: Violence, discrimination and unequal access to financial and social resources.

The initiative will encourage donor support and cast a media spotlight on the women who have been powerful heroes: those who help others cope with the illness, and those who are now underdogs in their efforts to fight HIV among themselves.