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Global HIV/AIDS Cases Rising for Women

Posted on: Tuesday, 9 March 2004, 06:00 CST

By NICK WADHAMS

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- A growing number of the world's new HIV/AIDS cases are women, a "terrifying pattern" that widely used prevention measures are ill-equipped to stop, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said.

Annan, speaking Monday at a United Nations conference marking International Women's Day, urged governments to fight the problems that put women at risk of getting the virus - including abuse, coercion by older men and their spouses having numerous sexual partners.

Statistics from 10 years ago indicated men were more affected than women, but within the last six years the percentage of the world's female HIV/AIDS patients has gone from 41 percent to 50 percent. In sub-Saharan Africa, 58 percent of all HIV/AIDS infected people are women.

"Even a decade ago, statistics indicated that women were less affected," Annan said. "But a terrifying pattern has since emerged. All over the world, women are increasingly bearing the brunt of the epidemic."

Annan said the shift in infection rates among the world's 40 million HIV/AIDS patients means that current prevention measures - which he called the ABC approach, or 'abstain, be faithful, use a condom' - are not working. According to the United Nations, women make up nearly two-thirds of those under 24 years old with HIV.

The trend is the same in Asia, the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. UNAIDS official Adriana Gomez-Saguez said that in 1990, less than 13 percent of HIV/AIDS patients in Thailand were women, but that percentage has risen to more than 35 percent.

Women have less access to information and health car than men do, and often face greater stigma than men if they have HIV/AIDS. AIDS is contributing to women's poverty because it often forces them out of the work force to take care of an ailing family member.

"In several parts of the world, a woman needs to get permission from another household member such as the husband, a monther-in-law, a brother, and in some cases, a son, to avail herself of health services," said World Health Organization director-general Dr. Lee Jong-wook.

Queen Noor, the widow of King Hussein of Jordan, said that the Middle East has reported a low rate of infection that could be attributed to family values. But the figures could also be artificially low because there is so much stigma surrounding the disease, she said.

"Experts have questioned the accuracy of these lower rates of infection due to the widespread stigma attached to the disease," Queen Noor said. "Many of those who carry the HIV virus would simply rather die than risk encouraging rejection or worse from family friends and community."

Annan said that in his travels around the world he's seen that it is usually women who are the most active in the fight against HIV/AIDS. But he and several others said men must also play a role - by not having multiple partners and making sure their daughters are properly educated, among other things.

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