2004-11-30
I'm Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English Health Report.
December first is World AIDS Day. This year, the campaign centers
on women and girls. They now make up almost half of all people
infected with the virus that causes AIDS. And H.I.V. is spreading
faster among women than men in most areas of the world. These
findings are from the yearly report by the United Nations and the
World Health Organization, a U.N. agency.
The report says East Asia had the sharpest increase in the number
of women infected with H.I.V during the past two years. Eastern
Europe and Central Asia came next.
In Southern Africa, almost sixty percent of infected adults are
women. In the Caribbean, young women are two times as likely as men
their age to become infected. And, in the United States, seventy-two
percent of women infected with H.I.V are African American.
AIDS experts say there are several reasons why women are at
greater risk. One has to do with the body. It is physically easier
for women, and especially girls, to become infected during sex.
Other reasons are cultural. Many women cannot demand that their
partners use protection. And marriage is no protection if the
husband has been with someone with H.I.V.
These reasons often combine with sexual violence, poverty and a
lack of education for females.
Worldwide, an estimated thirty-nine million people are living
with H.I.V. That is up from almost thirty-seven million two years
ago. An estimated three million people died of AIDS-related causes
this year, and five million more became infected. These numbers are
the highest yet.
Southern Africa has more than sixty percent of all people with
H.I.V. The area with the next highest rate is the Caribbean.
In East Asia, H.I.V. infections increased fifty percent over the
last two years. The report says this was largely the result of new
cases in China, Indonesia and Vietnam. It noted progress in
countries with large prevention programs, like Cambodia and
Thailand. But the report says the two most populous countries, China
and India, need to do more.
Doctor Peter Piot leads the U.N. AIDS Program. Doctor Piot says
prevention efforts alone are not enough to slow the spread of AIDS
among women in developing countries. He says women not only need to
be protected from violence, but also provided with education, jobs
and the right to own property.
This VOA Special English Health Report was written by Cynthia
Kirk. This is Gwen Outen.