Refugees and AIDS: What Should the Humanitarian Community Do?

As humanitarian actors working in refugee situations, we cannot close our eyes to the deadly threat of HIV/AIDS. We must assume greater proactive responsibility for enabling refugees to protect themselves from the spread of HIV infection and to lessen the impact on those infected and affected.

This document was produced by the Women’s Refugee Commission under the auspices of the Inter- agency Working Group on Reproductive Health in Refugee Situations to provide user-friendly guidance and mobilize humanitarian actors working in refugee settings to address HIV/AIDS.

The aim of the document is to stimulate policymakers, managers and implementers to strengthen their response to HIV/AIDS. It is not a comprehensive guide to HIV/AIDS programming in refugee settings. Readers are encouraged to utilize the key resource materials, among others, referenced at the end of this document.