Lucy Mensah (48), from Ghana, had no idea her husband was HIV positive. The mother of 3 was going through a routine check-up at the hospital for her fibroids problem when she was tested without her knowledge. The information was relayed to her husband. She was then told later, but her husband remained in denial.

Lucy is one of the women around the world who is attending the first women-only HIV/AIDS conference that has been organised by the Young Women Christian Association in Nairobi, Kenya. For the first time, women are talking amongst themselves to deal with the pandemic and find out women-friendly strategies that work for them.

Most women in Africa get to know their HIV status when they go for antenatal care, and most countries know the HIV prevalence rates of their nations through routine tests done on pregnant women. Of all people worldwide living with HIV, only 1 in 10 has been tested for the virus and most likely this person is female.

Once women learn of their status, they then inform their husband, some of whom abandon them or, worse still, beat them up for "bringing" the disease home. Others are chased away from their matrimonial home and their property taken after their husbands die of the disease.

"The stigma around the disease affects women most, yet they are the most vulnerable given the patriarchy that exists in the African society," says Jane Koyoo of the Widows and Orphans support network in Kenya.

According to the 2004 UNAIDS report Women and HIV/AIDS: Confronting the Crisis, for every 10 African men infected with HIV, there are 13 African women. In sub-Saharan Africa, 13.1 million women are infected.

This in itself is a clear indicator of how badly hit women are in Africa. Lucy is the president of the Women United Against AIDS (WUUAG) based in Accra, Ghana—a group that brings out women and helps them build their self esteem and income generating programmes to feed their children.

Through the African Women Development Fund (AWDF), the group which used to meet under a tree has acquired a shelter where they care for the most vulnerable members and nurse them back to strength before teaching them the life skills to continue living positively.

The figures above and stories of women like Jane and Lucy have compelled the AWDF to create a program the specifically looks at funding groups that would otherwise not get funding from the "usual suspect" donors. Speaking at the Conference, the Fund's executive director said that the initiative is "something that supports African women to take control of their own destiny."

AWDF launched the 13 Campaign based on the 2004 UNAIDS report stating that 13.1 million women were infected. The campaign is meant to raise resources to the Fund's HIV/AIDS arm, which are then injected into grassroots organisations in Africa dealing with specific needs of women.

AWDF, an Africa-wide fundraising and grant-making initiative, aims to support the work of Africa women's organisations; the HIV/AIDS fund aims to deal specifically with work around the pandemic.

Statistics show that in Zambia and Kenya, married women are up to 65 percent more likely to be HIV-positive than unmarried sexually active women. At least 50 percent of Senegalese women living with HIV/AIDS have only one risk factor—living in a monogamous union.

As much as the HIV/AIDS has taken on a feminine face, UNAIDS estimates that women participated in the development of fewer than 10 percent of National AIDS Plans.

The 13 Campaign looks at contribution from individuals within and outside of Africa to donate any figure related to number 13 starting from $13—or in the case of Kenya even Ksh 13 (19 cent of the dollar). So far the fund has collected over $200,000 since the launch of the campaign in July last year. The fund will provide grants to women's organisations/projects working on: protecting women's rights to own and inherit property and land; programs to combat harmful traditional practices, including wife inheritance; harmonization of national laws and constitutions in line with regional and international commitment.

It will focus on local, national or regional African women's organisations, from any part of Africa and priority will be given to those organisations already working in the specified areas and to communities of women living with HIV/AIDS.