KABUL - The 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence is an international campaign that runs from 25 November, International Day of Elimination of Violence against Women, through 10 December, International Human Rights Day.

This year’s theme is “From Peace in the Home to Peace in the World” highlighting the key roles women play in the family and as peacemakers and peacekeepers in war zones. In Afghanistan, support for women’s issues is one of the five priorities of the United Nations agencies and programmes.

Today’s story is authored by the United Nations

“People say we are Afghans. We are Muslims. Drugs, HIV, AIDS, these are not our problems. Addiction is now overlapped throughout the entire society even among educated personalities including doctors, engineers and so on. After the war out there, our second priority is the drug war,” said Dr Tariq Suliman who runs the NEJAT Jangalak Treatment Centre in Kabul.

Hundreds of addicts go through this and similar treatment programmes in Afghanistan, but few are women. That’s despite 2009 figures from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) that of the estimated one million drug users in Afghanistan, around 110,600 are female. Many are in the northern provinces where opium is commonly used by pregnant women, and as medicine for coughs among men, women and children.

One of the fastest methods of spreading HIV and AIDS is through shared needles and syringes used to inject heroin and other synthetic drugs. Over 85 per cent of injecting drug users interviewed in a 2010 joint survey by the Government of Afghanistan and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said that they had shared needles. Many as migrant workers in neighbouring countries. These people then return to their families, and some, despite strong cultural traditions, sell their bodies to feed their addictions – further spreading the disease.

There are about 650 HIV cases registered by the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) but the actual numbers are estimated to be in the thousands.

Of this group, less than 20 per cent receive antiretroviral drugs according to statistics from UNAIDS and the World Health Organization (WHO) cited in the World AIDS Day Report released on 21 November.

Women are especially vulnerable. They are less likely to receive treatments due to the taboo and stigma associated with the disease, but also due to the harmful traditional practices which limit women’s access to health and counseling services.

Afghan and UN experts warn that if not addressed, underlying issues of drug use – such as poverty, unemployment, mental health problems and lack of education – will cause the HIV and AIDS rate in the country to magnify.

Educated women and healthy families are the foundation of a peaceful and progressive Afghanistan.