Women, reproductive rights, and HIV/AIDS issues to increase their knowledge on issues they had not yet considered. Such observations highlight the need to enable HIV- positive women to assume positions as policy-makers, programme managers, and researchers. Many women who could contribute invaluable information to inform and direct policies and programmes on reproductive rights and HIV/AIDS lack formal training on how to translate their experience into advocacy and action. If these women are to have a meaningful place at deci- sion-making tables, they will need support to become effective advocates. NGOs and universities can provide HIV-positive women with a wealth of information on advocacy and policy-making strategies and procedures. They can further contribute to enhancing skills of wom- en, for example, by engaging more women in gathering information and evidence on which advocacy and com- munity action can be based—similar to what was done in the field studies reported in this paper. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The following women collaborated in carrying out the monitoring tool project: Argentina—María Ines Ré and Mabel Bianco of FEIM; Kenya—Monique Wanjala and Dorothy Onyango of WOFAK; Lesotho and Swa- ziland—Luisa Orza and Emma Bell of the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW); Mexico—Lorena Careaga Viliesid of Punto de Encuen- tro con la Comunidad AC; Poland—Anna Domaradzka and Wanda Nowicka of the Federation for Women and Family Planning; and South Africa—Lucky Barnabus, Dawn Cavanagh, Ntokozo Madlala, Thenjiwe Magwa- za, Thandeka Maphumulo, Nothile Mcanyana, Rose- mary Mlambo, Gugu Mpungose, Cindy Ngidi, Vicci Tallis, Rose Tolofi of the Gender AIDS Forum. The monitoring tool was revised after a second phase of the project; the updated version is available at: http://www. ipas.org/publications/en/MDGHIV_E06_en.pdf. REFERENCES 1. Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. Global Coalition on Women and AIDS. Women and AIDS. An extract from the AIDS epidemic update December 2004. Geneva: World Health Organiza- tion, 2004:1. (http://data.unaids.org/gcwa/jc986- epiextract_en.pdf#search=%22AIDS%20epidemic %20update%20december%202004%22 and http:// data.unaids.org/gcwa/jc986-epiextract_en.pdf, accessed on 19 September 2006). 2. Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. AIDS epidemic update. December 2005. Geneva: Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, 421 2005:1-4. (http://www.who.int/hiv/epi-update2005_ en.pdf; accessed on 19 September 2006). 3. Naz Foundation International. Female partners of MSM. London: Naz Foundation International, 2002: 6-9. (Briefing paper no. 6). (http://www.nfi.net/ NFI%20Publications/NFI%20Briefing%20Papers/ female%20partners.doc, accessed on 19 September 2006). 4. World Health Organization. Global Coalition on Women and AIDS. Violence against women and HIV/AIDS: critical intersections. Intimate partner violence and HIV/AIDS. Geneva: World Health Orga- nization, 2004. 9 p. (Information bulletin series no. 1). 5. Walsh J. Double standards: women’s property rights violations in Kenya. Hum Rights Watch 2003; 15:1,42. (http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/ken- ya0303/, accessed on 19 September 2006). 6. Karanja L. Just die quietly. Domestic violence and women’s vulnerability to HIV/AIDS in Uganda. Hum Rights Watch 2003;15:2. (http://www.hrw. org/reports/2003/kenya0303/, accessed on 19 Sep- tember 2006). 7. Ellsberg M, Heise L. Researching violence against women:apracticalguideforresearchersandactivists. Washington, DC: World Health Organization, 2005. 56 p. (http://www.path.org/files/GBV_rvaw_front. pdf#search=%22Researching%20violence%20aga inst%20women%3A%20a%20practical%20guide %20for%20researchers%20and%20activists.%22, accessed on 19 September 2006). 8. de Bruyn M. HIV/AIDS, pregnancy and abortion. A review of the literature. Chapel Hill, NC: Ipas, 2003:11-2. 9. de Bruyn M. HIV/AIDS and reproductive health. Sensitive and neglected issues. A review of the literature. Recommendations for action. Chapel Hill: Ipas, 2005:18. (http://www.ipas.org/publica- tions/en/HIVLITREV_E05_en.pdf, accessed on 20 March 2006). 10. Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. Where prevention and care meet: voluntary coun- selling and testing, and preventing mother-to- child transmission. Report on the global HIV/AIDS epidemic 2002. Geneva: Joint United Nations Pro- gramme on HIV/AIDS, 2002:128-9. (http://www. unaids.org/Unaids/EN/Resources/Publications/ Corporate+publications/Report+on+the+Global+HIV_ AIDS+Epidemic+2002+.asp, accessed on 16 Sep- tember 2004).