As a result of advocacy efforts by women attending the national women and HIV conference in 1997 and 1999, the Collaborative was established in April of 2000 with seed funding from Dupont Pharmaceuticals. The objective: to bring together HIV positive women, community advocates and providers to collectively address the needs of women infected or affected by HIV/AIDS. Against the backdrop of increasingly punitive and coercive public health policies targeting women and, in response to the lack of women-centered HIV care and services, the Collaborative seeks to develop and implement a comprehensive advocacy agenda to defend and promote the rights of women living with HIV.