A striking feature of the global AIDS epidemic is the increasing proportion of women and girls among people living with HIV. This is particularly evident in Eastern Europe, Asia and Latin America.
In Sub-Sahara Africa and the Caribbean, this percentage has always been on the higher side, reaching 57 per cent in the year 2004 in Sub-Sahara Africa.
The most affected are those in the youngest age group (15-24 years). It has also been observed that globally AIDS is affecting women most severely in places where heterosexual sex is a dominant mode of transmission of HIV.
The reasons for the greater vulnerability of women and the greater risks they face of acquiring the HIV infection are multiple, biological, social, cultural, economic and therefore lead to complex problems with no easy solutions.
