| |
|
|
World AIDS Day spotlights epidemic’s
impact on women
United Nations officials marked the 17th annual
World AIDS Day on 1 December by calling for societies to enable
women to protect themselves at a time when nearly half of the 37.2
million people infected are female.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that, although women were generally
more faithful to their male partners and less likely to inject drugs,
they remained more vulnerable to infection because of poverty and
a lack of information. Another factor, he said in a message marking
the Day, is “men having several concurrent sexual relationships
that entrap young women in a giant network of infection”.
“In some heavily affected countries, married women have higher
rates of HIV infection than their unmarried, sexually active peers”.
Mr. Annan continued: “These factors cannot be addressed piecemeal”.
The needed social improvements could only be brought about through
“the education of girls, through legal and social reforms
and through greater awareness and responsibility among men”,
he said.
In Bangkok, World AIDS Day was marked with a special commemorative
session co-organized by ESCAP and UNAIDS on “Women, girls,
and HIV and AIDS”, as part of the Subcommittee on Health and
Development (see page 2). A special address, delivered by Dr. Arzu
Rana Deuba of Nepal, and personal testimonies “highlighted
the need to strengthen and expand prevention and care programmes
for all vulnerable groups, especially women and girls, and including
injecting drug users, men with multiple partners and men who have
sex with men”, noted the Report of the above-mentioned Subcommittee.
“All efforts to address HIV/AIDS should ensure realistic access
for women and girls to information, essential services and opportunities
for advancement”. It stressed that “for responses to
HIV/AIDS to be successful, especially in the case of youth, awareness-raising
and information dissemination had to be reinforced by political
commitment at the highest levels, as well as civil society leadership,
and the full participation of people living with HIV/AIDS and affected
communities”.
|
|
