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Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS (GBC) Launches New Healthy Women, Healthy Economies Initiative

Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS (GBC) Launches New Healthy Women, Healthy Economies Initiative

Published 09-14-05

Submitted by GBCHealth

New York - The Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS (GBC), the pre-eminent organization leading the business response to AIDS, calls on the global business sector to support the fight against AIDS through the empowerment of women. To launch the initiative the GBC, in partnership with the private sector and the Organization of African First Ladies (OAFLA), is hosting various events in New York City.

Healthy Women, Healthy Economies (HWHE) was formed in response to the growing gender inequity which fuels the AIDS epidemic and increases the burden of the disease on women. The initiative, an ongoing campaign forging new business action against AIDS, aims to empower women through microfinance, access to health services and education and to strengthen corporate involvement by providing in-depth programmatic, advocacy and financial options.

"If women in the developing world do not have equal rights, they will not have equal health," said Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, President and CEO of the GBC. "It is as simple as that; the empowerment of women is not a politically-correct cliché, but a living, essential goal for everyone."

Hosted at Merrill Lynch's New York office, the Advisory Committee for Healthy Women, Healthy Economies, made up of leading women in business, politics, and media, will meet today for the first time to launch the initiative. This evening a dinner with Ambassador Holbrooke, Madame Kagame of Rwanda and a number of African First Ladies will take place at the UN Millennium Plaza Hotel to announce the partnership between GBC and OAFLA. The GBC will also be working with Women's World Banking (WWB), The Packard Foundation and the International Women's Health Coalition (IWHC) on the initiative.

"Too often, women lack power in their relationships with men. When women are economically empowered, they will also be empowered to negotiate safe sexual relationships and protect themselves from HIV transmission." said Trevor Neilson, Executive Director of the GBC.

"GBC is launching Healthy Women, Healthy Economies to offer companies specific ways to get involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS by supporting women and simultaneously seeing the positive economic impact on businesses of (on) global women's empowerment. The AIDS epidemic demonstrates that women's empowerment is the key to economic stability in the face of the worst public health crisis in human history."

About the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS (GBC)
The Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS (GBC) is the pre-eminent organization leading the business fight against HIV/AIDS. The rapidly-expanding alliance of 200 international companies is dedicated to combating the AIDS epidemic through the business sector's unique skills and expertise. GBC is the official focal point of the private sector to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. For more information, please visit the GBC website at www.businessfightsaids.org.

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GBCHealth is the preeminent organization focused on business engagement in support of meeting global goals for health. Its vision is health equity and a global business community that contributes its assets, skills, influence and reach to create a healthier world for employees, their families, and communities. GBCHealth works with companies worldwide and with the United Nations, governments, academia, civil society & others. In September 2022, GBCHealth launched future united, a global initiative harnessing the power of the private sector to fight for - and achieve - health equity, tackle the impact of climate change on health, and address antimicrobial resistance and future pandemics.

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