Discrimination Makes Women More Vulnerable to HIV/AIDS: UN

The proportion of women with HIV/AIDS has risen steadily in the past few years, driven in many developing countries by gender discrimination, UNICEF said on Tuesday. While men have the decision-making authority, women and girls find it difficult to get access to information and services, UNICEF said. Prescribed cultural gender roles require women and girls to be submissive and compliant and add to their vulnerability, the UN agency said in a press release: "In many countries, women's powerlessness is a death sentence." According to UNICEF, 41 percent of HIV- positive adults were women in 1997, rising to 47 percent by 2000. In sub-Saharan African alone, 12.2 million women are estimated to be infected with HIV. In developing countries, women outnumber men by two-to-one among newly infected 15- to 24-year-olds.

UNICEF underscored a recent study in Zambia showing that only 11 percent of women believed they could ask their husband to use a condom. Another survey in India showed 13 percent of women seeking treatment for STDs tested positive for HIV, but more than 90 percent of them said they only had sex with their husbands. UNICEF also said that violence and myths about sex add to girls' vulnerability, including the belief that having sex with a virgin is a cure for AIDS.

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