Growing number of world’s new HIV/AIDS cases are women

A GROWING number of the world’s new HIV/Aids cases are women, a “terrifying pattern” that widely used prevention measures are ill-equipped to stop, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said.

Annan, speaking at a United Nations conference marking International Women's Day, urged governments to fight the problems that put women at risk of getting the virus including abuse, coercion by older men, and their spouses taking on numerous sexual partners.

Statistics from 10 years ago indicated men were more affected than women, but within the last six years the percentage of the world's female HIV/Aids patients has gone from 41% to 50%. In sub-Saharan Africa, 58% of all HIV/Aids infected people are women.

"Even a decade ago, statistics indicated that women were less affected," Annan said. "But a terrifying pattern has since emerged. All over the world, women are increasingly bearing the brunt of the epidemic."

Annan said the shift in infection rates among the world's 40 million HIV/Aids patients means that current prevention measures which he called the ABC approach, or 'abstain, be faithful, use a condom' are not working.

According to the United Nations, women make up nearly two-thirds of those under 24 years old with HIV.

The trend is the same in Asia. UNAIDS official Adriana Gomez-Saguez said that in 1990, less than 13% of HIV/Aids patients in Thailand were women, but that percentage has risen to more than 35%.

Women have less access to information and health care than men do, and often face greater stigma than men if they have HIV/Aids and are victims of discrimination and violence because of it. Aids is contributing to women's poverty because it often forces them out of the work force to take care of an ailing family member.

"In several parts of the world, a woman needs to get permission from another household member to avail herself of health services," said World Health Organisation director-general Dr Lee Jong-wook.

Annan said that men must also play a role in the fight against Aids by not having multiple partners and making sure their daughters were properly educated, among other things.