UN Women in close cooperation with UNAIDS and Tajikistan Network of Women living with HIV will organize the first Hackathon on issues of women and HIV from April 29-30.  The event will take place in Guliston, Sanatorium Bahoriston.

This is the first ever hackathon on issues of women and HIV to be organized in Tajikistan, the participants of which will generate viable ideas to improve the livelihoods of women affected by HIV.  According to the statistics, the share of women in people living with HIV increased by 5% during the recent years in Tajikistan and it accounts for 40% of the total number of these people.  The women at the age of 19-39 make 70% of them and only 11% of young women at the age of 15-24 are aware about the ways of prevention of HIV transmission.

More than 60 interested individuals, including representatives from civil society organizations, experts and specialists on HIV, information technologies, representatives from governmental agencies, media and international organizations will participate in the two-day hackathon.

During these two day, 9 teams with compete with one another in developing products/projects, the further application of which would make it possible to strengthen the role of women in control of HIV and provide a new impetus to improve the livelihoods of women exposed this virus.  It is particularly expected that websites on the issues faced by women living with HIV will be developed and Start-Up project on economic empowerment of women, on improvement of their access to quality services, as well as effective programs to minimize stigma and discrimination against them will be presented.

According to organizers, people living with HIV, first and foremost women, should be in the center of activities on control of AIDS since their knowledge and experience will make it possible to assess the needs and undertake measures needed to improve the living standards of people exposed to this epidemy, to protect their rights and promote successful implementation of activities to prevent this epidemy.

UN Women – the United Nations entity dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. The UN Women, protecting the rights of women and girls, was established to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide.

The UN Women also coordinates and promotes the UN system’s work in advancing gender equality, and in all deliberations and agreements linked to the 2030 Agenda.  The entity works to position gender equality as fundamental to Sustainable Development Goals, and a more inclusive world.

Support of strategic actions towards gender equality and elimination of all forms of violence against women is the key element for effective response to HIV epidemy.