Published 8 May 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b1883
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b1883

News

Young women at more risk of HIV infection than young men

Michael Day

1 Milan

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The unchecked sexual exploitation of girls and women is contributing to the fact that young women are "bearing the brunt" of new HIV infections, Unicef has warned in a report.

Unicef adds that this route of infection is undermining medical progress against the AIDS pandemic.

It says that of the 5.5 million people aged 15-24 worldwide with the virus, two thirds are women. In southern Africa, which is home to 67% of all people with HIV, women under 25 are 2-4.5 times more likely than male peers to become infected.

Anita Tiessen, deputy executive director of Unicef UK, said, "Unless we do more to prevent infection in young people, particularly young women, we’re never going to control the pandemic."

The Unicef UK report says that girls are put at risk by having multiple sexual partners, having sex with older men, abuse, or working in the sex trade.

"Equally shocking," said . . . [Full text of this article]


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