LESOTHO: Empower women to slow AIDS - UN

A senior UN official has warned that parts of Africa could be depopulated of women in 20 years as a result of HIV/AIDS.

Stephen Lewis, the UN special envoy on AIDS in Africa, said: "Only a revolution in women's status can slow the epidemic there."

Research shows that cultural and economic conditions encouraging transactional sex have made African women more vulnerable to HIV infection.

Experts say it is difficult to fight these trends on the continent because women are biologically more susceptible to HIV; early sex is the cultural norm; and women have little say in sex or other important decisions.

Theme (s): Care/Treatment - PlusNews, Other,

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]