| Preventing HIV in young women and
girls
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The
Global Coalition on Women and AIDS seeks to:
Improve access to prevention services. Women and girls,
including those who are HIV positive, require good sexual
and reproductive health services. Most young brides
and other adolescent girls find it difficult to access
vital information and services. As a result, they are
susceptible to unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted
infections, including HIV.
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The rate of HIV infection among young people worldwide is
rapidly increasing. Of particular concern are the dramatic
increases in HIV infection among young women, who now make
up 60% of the 15- to 24- year olds living with HIV/AIDS. Globally,
young women are 1.6 times more likely to be living with HIV/AIDS
than young men.
Throughout sub-Saharan Africa, girls and young women (15-24
years) are now three times more likely to be HIV infected
as young men. This trend continues in the Caribbean where
young women are up to 2.5 times more likely to be infected.
Where prevalence rates are low young men usually have higher
rates of infection than young women but in countries with
higher HIV infection rates young women typically surpass young
men of the same age. In East Asia 28% of the young people
(15-24 years) living with the virus are women and in South
and South East Asia this figure rises to 40%.
CONVENING AGENCIES
UNFPA
Young
Positives
International
Planned Parenthood Federation
RELATED DOCUMENTS
Backgrounder:
Preventing HIV infection in girls and young women
Issues in Brief:
The role of reproductive health providers in preventing HIV
UNAIDS/UNFPA/UNIFEM Joint Report: Women
and HIV/AIDS: Confronting the Crisis
UNICEF and Johns Hopkins University: SARA:
A role model for girls as they face HIV and AIDS in Africa
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