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The Film

Women now account for half of the 33 million people living with HIV around the world. In sub-Saharan Africa, home to two-thirds of the world’s people living with HIV, women are even harder hit, making up 60 percent of those infected. Not only are women biologically more susceptible than men to HIV, many behavioral and social factors play into women’s vulnerability.

If a young woman is uninfected with HIV at the time of her marriage, traditional wisdom says that she has avoided the disease altogether. More and more, however, research shows that marriage is not enough to protect people from HIV, either women or men.

This documentary, filmed in Kenya, explores some of the complex realities of married women, and how the challenges of HIV prevention in this group defy simple solutions. The film urges a broader, integrated approach to preventing HIV, which includes confronting damaging social norms that put all people – men and women alike—at risk.

This film was produced by Population Action International (PAI) to raise awareness of the risk of HIV transmission within marriage, and to illustrate the particular challenges facing married women. It also shows that traditional approaches to HIV prevention do not meet the needs of married women, because practicing abstinence is unrealistic, because wives cannot control the faithfulness of their husbands, and because they find it difficult to negotiate condom use.

This film is intended to be used as an advocacy tool to inform, provoke discussion, and mobilize political and financial support for evidence-based HIV prevention, sexual and reproductive health and rights programs, and broader social and economic policies to improve the lives of women and their families.

Many steps can be taken to reduce the vulnerability of married women and men to HIV infection, including stronger policies, better prevention strategies, and changes in harmful social norms. These steps can include:

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About PAI

Population Action International (PAI) is an independent policy advocacy group working to strengthen political and financial support worldwide for population programs grounded in individual rights. Founded in 1965, PAI is a private, non-profit group and accepts no government funds.

Our Mission: Population Action International works to ensure that every person has the right and access to sexual and reproductive health, so that humanity and the natural environment can exist in balance and fewer people live in poverty.

Visit PAI’s website or subscribe to our iTunes channel to watch PAI’s other award-winning advocacy documentaries.

Learn about the issues raised in this film and take action!

We would like to sincerely thank Pathfinder and the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund for their support which was instrumental to the production of The Silent Partner.

We would also like to acknowledge the Lowe Foundation, the Prospect Hill Foundation, the Hugh M. Hefner Foundation and the Conservation Food and Health Foundation.

Contribute to PAI

Contribute to PAI’s International Advocacy Small Grants Fund and help women and their families obtain the reproductive healthcare they need. Your gift will support organizations, like those featured in The Silent Partner, who advocate for women’s rights and improved reproductive healthcare in low income countries all over the world.

In sub-Saharan Africa and other parts of the world, HIV and AIDS is largely spread by unprotected sex and yet millions lack access to reproductive health care and information that could protect them from infection. Advocacy for basic services for family planning, prevention and treatment of STIs, early diagnosis and treatment of breast and cervical cancer, and prevention of gender-based violence must be strengthened and maintained, and funding for these services must be increased. Without local level advocacy providing a voice for sexual and reproductive health, this vital care will continue to be unavailable to millions.

PAI has a long history of providing small grants to organizations working to promote human rights and secure access to reproductive health and HIV and AIDS services for women and their families. PAI identifies local groups that are poised to either commence or enhance their advocacy efforts, providing them with targeted small grants to sustain critical advocacy efforts at the local and regional levels. PAI guarantees financial oversight of all grants, ensuring that funds are used responsibly and effectively to increase advocacy efforts for sexual and reproductive health.

The International Advocacy Small Grants Fund provides its grantees with much more than funding: PAI strives to create partnerships with grantees through the provision of professional assistance of many kinds; access to PAI’s research materials; connections with PAI’s stakeholders, including private and public donors and policymakers; and inclusion in PAI’s planning for new and creative strategies and programs.

PAI welcomes donations of all sizes, as even a small amount can go a long way for many of our partner organizations. Ninety percent of your donation will go to organizations like those featured in The Silent Partner (e.g., Women Fighting AIDS in Kenya, Men for Gender Equality Now, Kenya Network of Women with AIDS, Carolina for Kibera, The Center for the Study of Adolescence) and other NGOs located in and working for communities. By supporting PAI’s International Advocacy Small Grants Fund, you can empower individuals to secure critical reproductive health care services, and begin to make a healthier and wealthier life for them and their families.

Thank you for your generous support!

Our Partners

This work is supported in part by the generous contributions of The Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, Pathfinder International, The Fledgling Fund and others.