Nearly half of HIV adults are women

Women make up nearly half of the 37.2 million adults living with HIV and in sub-Saharan Africa the proportion rises to almost 60 per cent, according to a UN report released yesterday.

"Increasingly the face of AIDS is young and female," said Dr Kathleen Cravero, deputy executive director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

In every region of the globe, the number of women infected with the deadly virus has risen during the past two years. East Asia had the highest jump with 56 per cent, followed by Eastern Europe and Central Asia with 48 per cent.

In sub-Saharan Africa, three-quarters of all 15- to 24-year-olds living with HIV are female.

"Young women are almost an endangered species in southern Africa from AIDS for several reasons," Ms Cravero said.

Many women have no access to education or jobs. They are often economically dependent on men and may not have the power to resist sex or ask their husband or partner to use a condom.

Teenage girls are acquiring the virus at a younger age and from older men. Violence against women also makes them more vulnerable to infection.

"We will not be able to stop this epidemic unless we put women at the heart of the response to AIDS," UNAIDS Executive Director Dr Peter Piot told a news conference in Brussels.

The annual report by UNAIDS and the World Health Organisation (WHO), released ahead of World AIDS Day on December 1, shows the number of adults and children living with HIV reached its highest level ever in 2004 with an estimated 39.4 million, compared to about 36.6 million two years ago.

Over three million people died of the illness this year.

"As in previous years, it's very sobering news," said Dr Piot. "It confirms that this is the worst epidemic in human history, and it is still expanding."

New infections climbed by nearly 50 per cent since 2002 in East Asia, mainly because of growing epidemics in China, Indonesia and Vietnam.

In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, there has been a 40 per cent jump in the past two years, fuelled by the growing number of infections in Russia and Ukraine.

"Over 80 per cent of HIV positive people in Eastern Europe are under 30 years of age," Ms Cravero told a news conference.

But sub-Saharan Africa, where 25.4 million people are infected with the virus, is the worst affected region of the world. The epidemic appears to have stabilised in the region, which means an equal number of people are being newly infected with and dying of AIDS.

Sixty-four per cent of all HIV positive people worldwide and 76 per cent of all women with the virus are in sub-Saharan Africa.