AIDS Remains World’s Leading Cause of Death Among Impoverished Young Women

A recently released report by the World Health Organization identifies AIDS-related illness as "the leading cause of death and disease among women of reproductive age in low and middle income countries.”

A Nov. 9 article about the report on the UNAIDS website provided the following information related to the WHO findings:

• Globally only 38 percent of young women are able to describe the main ways to avoid infection and they are less likely to know that condoms can protect against HIV than young men.
• Data from 16 countries in sub-Saharan Africa from 2001-2007 also show that HIV prevalence is generally higher among adolescent girls aged 15-19 than their male counterparts.
• A significant cause of this is young girls partnering with older men who are more sexually experienced and more likely to be infected.

“Violence against women is also a major cause of their increased vulnerability to HIV,” the UNAIDS article reported. “[Violence and other forms of intimidation] can make it difficult or impossible for [women] to control their sexual lives, abstain from sex or get their partners to use condoms.”