Gender inequality seen fuelling Aids epidemic

World Aids Day today is being celebrated internationally with the theme "Have you heard me today?", sedqa, the national agency against drug and alcohol abuse, said yesterday.

This year's World Aids campaign explores how gender inequality fuels the Aids epidemic, and is meant to help accelerate the global response to HIV and Aids by encouraging people to address female vulnerability to HIV.

World Aids Day is intended to mark the progress made in the battle against the epidemic, generate greater awareness, highlight preventive initiatives, and bring into focus remaining challenges.

To support the international event, sedqa is at the Malta College of Arts Science and Technology main campus until tomorrow taking part in "Celebrate Life" - an activity being organised by BusiComms and Comunio, two student organisations within the Institute of Business and Commerce.

Sedqa representatives will be present to reach students and distribute preventive material and information. The staff will talk to students who approach the stand.

Syringe bins and other equipment are provided by the agency for the collection of used syringes from public places, ensuring that the public does not come into contact with used needles which could be carrying infectious diseases, although the actual risk of contracting HIV from a needle-stick injury was very low, sedqa said.

The perception of risk by the public was, however, high and resulted in a lot of anxiety.

Sedqa also emphasised harm minimisation with clients attending its services, mainly by discouraging the sharing of needles and other paraphernalia used for drug abuse.

Between 1986 and last June, there were in Malta 58 notifications of Aids. Seven were new cases reported between June 2001 and June 2004. One was a non-Maltese.

Sexual contact without the necessary precautions and needle sharing in drug consumption were the main causes of the rapid spread of the HIV virus, which led to Aids.

This year's international theme was chosen because young women and girls were more susceptible to HIV than men and boys, with studies showing they could be 2.5 times more likely to be HIV-infected than their male counterparts.

Their vulnerability was primarily due to inadequate knowledge about Aids, insufficient access to HIV prevention services, and inability to negotiate safer sex, among others.

This was why HIV-positive women had a unique and valuable role to play, both in society and in fighting HIV and Aids.

A new report by UNAids and Who, released on November 23, showed that the number of people living with HIV globally had reached its highest level with an estimated 39.4 million people, up from an estimated 36.6 million in 2002.

The steepest increases in HIV infections occurred in east Asia, eastern Europe, and central Asia over the past two years. With an estimated 860,000 people living with HIV at the end of 2003, Russia had the largest epidemic in Europe.

Sedqa noted this increase in the rate of individuals contracting the HIV virus, and believed that there should be an emphasis on prevention, especially among the young generation.

It offered care services both within the community and in residential settings.

Further information about the HIV virus or Aids, or about the test can be obtained from the GU Clinic on 2122 7981.

www.sedqa.org.mt