HIV: now it is a woman's disease
The study, by UNAids, shows that women make up an increasing proportion of people with HIV, with the problem particularly acute in Sub-Saharan Africa, where nearly 60 per cent of sufferers are women. That proportion rises to 76 per cent among 15 to 24-year-old women.
Women are biologically more susceptible - being twice as likely to contract HIV from men during sex as they are to pass it on - but cultural factors are also important.
Many women in Africa and Asia find it difficult to persuade partners to practise safe sex, and young women often exchange sex for money or basic necessities. The partner is often an older man with a long sexual history.
Bella Matabanadzo, of the United Nations Secretary-General's Task Force on Women and Aids, said: "There needs to be a major push to tackle gender inequalities that are fuelling the epidemic."
Xan Rice Sam Lister/TimesUK 24.Nov.04
