Caught in the Web: Women, HIV, and Climate Change

Given the social and scientific complexity of HIV, it’s no wonder that those of us in the field become versant with a range of issues.

We can explain how important affordable housing is, how stability in residence is vital to managing HIV medication and care. We know that people go hungry, even in a wealthy country such as Canada, and that access to nutritious food is a priority for people with HIV. We know that drug-use criminalization hurts HIV prevention and care and that harm reduction approaches are essential; even the Supreme Court of Canada has recognized that addiction is not an immoral choice, but a medical problem. We further know that drug use and other higher risk behaviours are often fuelled by experiences of trauma and violence, as people search for ways to cope. We can talk at length about the intersections between HIV and the criminalization of virus transmission or exposure, HIV and poverty, HIV and incarceration, HIV and colonialism and racism. And on and on.

In short, we can articulate with painful acuity how a web of issues undermines HIV prevention and care.

And so I find it curious that the connection between HIV and climate change remains little remarked upon. Maybe the relationship isn’t obvious, at least for those of us shielded from the immediate impacts of climate change. Maybe our myopia results from not having the impacts right before our eyes, not in the same way, for instance, that we witness the desperation brought on by homelessness or lack of food.

Manifestations of climate change are already being seen—from droughts to floods, from receding glaciers to rising sea levels, to storms and typhoons. And such manifestations will continue to intensify, unless the world’s governments can finally come to and adhere to an agreement on drastically reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The severe challenges engendered by climate change are many. A big one is food crises, which will be worsened by climate change. Food shortages have evident health implications for people living with HIV in terms of being able to take medication and maintain proper nutrition, and can lead ultimately lead to increased infection rates. Oxfam recently warned,

          Increasingly frequent and severe extreme weather events will compound the
          projected impacts of climate change on crop yields and food prices, creating
          food shortages, destabilizing markets and precipitating price spikes. The
          consequences could be catastrophic for the poorest and most vulnerable who
          spend up to 75 percent of their income on food.

And because women are predominantly involved in small-scale farming, they will be especially hurt. In a 2009 report, the United Nations Population Fund noted,

          Of particular concern was the possibility that climate change could reduce
          income from such natural resource-intensive activities as farming and fishing,
          possibly driving some women into sex work and thereby increasing HIV
          infection rates.

Here are a few more consequences for women: They are more vulnerable and likely to die during natural disasters. They tend to be primary caregivers and will have more people to attend to as rates of disease rise. Their workdays will become even longer and more precarious, as they will have to travel farther to collect water and other resources. They will experience increased violence as a result of armed conflicts over ever-more-scarce resources. And indigenous women face a particular burden, as their identities and ways of life will be impacted by extinctions of plants and animals.

“Poor women in poor countries are among the hardest hit by climate change, even though they contributed the least to it,” noted Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, executive director of the United Nations Population Fund.

And women with HIV, or caring for those with HIV, will be hit even harder. Climate change really is an HIV issue. To fight HIV, we’re going to have to fight climate change.

– Erin