Key Fact: Domestic violence is the most common form of violence against women, and is the one where women often have the least amount of power to act against it. Women’s empowerment in Nicaragua is intrinsically tied to economic survival, health and reproductive rights, and the struggle against intra-familial violence. 52% of Nicaraguan women had been victims of violence from a spouse of partner at some point in their lives.  

Partner Info: GlobeMed at USC is partnered with AIDSail, which works in Latin America and the Caribbean, meanwhile also offering volunteer relief efforts for the hurricane victims in New Orleans. Access to health care has been fairly difficult along the Atlantic Coast, therefore, AIDSail is collaborating with local nonprofit organizations in Managua to extend services into rural communities. AIDSail is also working with International Community of Women (ICW) in Nicaragua to support economic development programs for women living with HIV and helping support women's cooperatives. The main focus of AIDSail is aiding in HIV prevention and intervention, and minimizing the influencing risk factors of HIV infection among women and children. Many women in these communities lack a voice, and AIDSail is working with them to give them a sense of independence and self worth.  

Project and Impact: AIDSail main objectives is to improve the health of the women in Nicaragua by making healthcare more readily available, meanwhile empowering the women of these targeted communities and forcing them to look at themselves for change and self improvement. Women in the region lack economic opportunity , which would aid in the reduction of HIV and violence. Working alone with the community, AIDSail is helping develop a Women’s Economic Development Cooperative that sets aside a portion of the incoming money to support health care and social programs. One of their main projects is a school uniform sewing program in Nicaragua, giving these women the opportunity to make money and gain economic capacity. The growth of the sewing program will benefit not the women working in the cooperative, but also all women in the community, allowing them to tap into the funds for medical aid.  

Chapter History: Developed out of a research study in Los Angeles on the social influences of HIV/AIDS infection in women, AIDSail works in Latin America and the Caribbean to reduce HIV prevalence in the women and children of rural coastal communities. Building on a mission against HIV/AIDS, AIDSail has expanded to not only target the disease of AIDS, as implied by its name, but all forms of aid and relief that impact the health of these communities. GlobeMed at USC partnered with AIDSail in the Fall of 2008 and is currently collaborating with AIDSail on its health projects in Nicaragua.