When the head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn (DSK), was charged with sexually assaulting a housekeeper in a New York hotel, the entire world was in shock. More often than not perpetrators of violence against women (VAW) go unpunished, so it was hard to believe that a legal case involving one of the most powerful men on the planet was able to take center stage in international media.

When Stefani Mills Powers began working as a sex worker in Trinidad and Tobago eleven years ago, she took risks. But “after being educated about the diseases that could be spread by unprotected oral sex,” the mid-twenty-year-old transgender female says, “I took a serious stand to always use protection.”

Gender-based violence takes the life of one in three women worldwide and is the leading cause of disability and death to women between the ages of 15 and 44 -- more than cancer, malaria, traffic accidents, and war combined. In Latin America, up to a third of women experience gender-based violence. But gender-based violence isn't simply a women's is

In Latin America, up to a third of women experience gender-based violence, including psychological, physical, and sexual abuse. Since 2008, IPPF has been part of a UNFPA regional project, Salud y Justicia Para Mujeres Ante la Violencia Sexual, which has been working to improve access to legal justice and ensure quality health services for victims of sexual violence in Central America.

Crises, whether human-induced or caused by natural hazards, can inflict untold suffering and hardship, particularly on women and girls who are more vulnerable to rape and other forms of gender-based violence. It is estimated that tens of thousands of women and girls are subjected to sexual assault in conflict situations each year around the world. Problems related to sexual and reproductive health are the leading cause of death and ill health globally for women of childbearing age. In crises, this vulnerability increases, while access to services decreases. 

“I’m not just a doctor of the body; I am a doctor of the soul.”

Dr. Maria Isabel Corea Ramirez is a kind woman with a large smile, soothing eyes, and a calm demeanor. As the director of PROFAMILIA’s clinic in Tipitapa, Nicaragua, a small township 22 kilometers east of Managua, she oversees several programs that bring essential health services—such as contraception and prenatal care—to thousands of people each year.

Gender-based violence includes any act or threat of physical, sexual, or psychological aggression against a woman. According to the World Health Organization, 1 out of every 4 women reports having been subjected to gender-based violence by an intimate partner. Considering the harmful effects it can have on a woman’s sexual and reproductive health, IPPF/WHR developed a regional project to combat gender-based violence in Latin America and the Caribbean. One result was ¡Basta!

Last year, PROFAMILIA Colombia collected artwork from around the world for an International Day of No Violence Against Women. The collection was a part of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence and raised awareness about the right of women to live without the threat of gender-based violence.

Damaging gossip, harsh stares, aggressive remarks, exile. These are just a few forms of stigma and discrimination regularly faced by people living with HIV. A growing body of evidence has shown that women living with HIV/AIDS often face an increased risk for gender-based violence.

While the number of new HIV infections has stabilized in recent years, in many parts of the world, women and girls continue to bear a disproportionate burden of the pandemic. In the Caribbean, for example, women account for more than half of people living with HIV, and young women are twice as likely to be HIV positive as young men.