Lisa Schechtman

Global AIDS Alliance

Lisa Schechtman is the Senior Policy Officer at the Global AIDS Alliance. She has extensive experience in human rights grassroots advocacy and organizing. She served as Colorado Coordinator for Amnesty International’s Campaign to Stop Violence against Women and Outreach Coordinator for the Center on Rights Development. She has worked on human rights issues in international settings, including democratization in Guatemala and access to mental health care in India. Lisa holds a B.A. from Northwestern University and an M.A. in international human rights and global health affairs from the University of Denver.

The Deadly Intersection of HIV and Violence Against Women and Children

Lisa Schechtman

Let me start of by giving you a truly horrifying statistic. After you've read it, stop and think about what it means.

In South Africa, a woman is raped every 26 seconds.

Shocking, no? Let me add to it. Maybe you know all this already, but lest we get complacent I'm going to tell you again.

One out of three women in the world will be physically, sexually or emotionally abused in her lifetime.

20% of girls will be sexually abused before the age of 18. 10% of boys will experience the same tragedy.

In South Africa, a child is raped every 24 minutes.