Human rights approaches to an expanded response to address women's vulnerability to HIV/AIDS

This article begins by assessing various social policy approaches to the AIDS epidemic and reviews the benefits of addressing AIDS through a social vulnerability framework. The author advocates utilizing a human rights approach as opposed to a public health approach to these issues. The second part of the article discusses how an appropriate response to gender and HIV/AIDS can be facilitated through the protections under existing human rights documents. The remainder of the article focuses on the actions of United Nations organizations and the NGO community in incorporating the human rights framework into their HIV/AIDS programs. [Descriptors: Reproductive Rights - HIV/AIDS, International]