Education and Prevention the Key To Protecting Women and Girls From HIV and AIDS
AMA President, Dr Bill Glasson, said today that education and prevention are central to stemming the rate of HIV/AIDS infection, especially the increasing rate of infection among young women and girls internationally.
Dr Glasson said that while Australia's track record is good, we must not become complacent about the possible impact of the disease on the Australian population.
According to UNAIDS (The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS), globally young women and girls are more susceptible to HIV than men and boys, with studies showing they can be 2.5 times more likely to be HIV-infected as their male counterparts.
Dr Glasson said many women and girls are vulnerable because of inadequate knowledge about AIDS, insufficient access to HIV prevention services, inability to negotiate safer sex, and a lack of female-controlled HIV prevention methods, such as microbicides (protective vaginal foam which kill the virus).
"Women and girls are also more likely to face sexual violence, which can accelerate the spread of HIV if perpetrators are HIV positive," Dr Glasson said.
Over 20 million people have died of AIDS in the two decades since the epidemic began, and about 40 million people are currently infected.
In poor countries, six million people with HIV/AIDS need antiretroviral treatment immediately, and women and children make up a large proportion of those who need care, treatment and support.
Women are twice as likely to contract HIV from a single act of unprotected sex, but they remain dependent on male cooperation for protection from infection.
However, in Australia, 90 percent of people living with HIV/AIDS are men and the transmission of HIV infection continues to be mainly through sexual contact between men. There are around 1,100 women in Australia living with HIV/AIDS.
Many women and girls are affected by HIV/AIDS in other ways as parents, as carers, and through their relationships with people living with HIV/AIDS.
"For all these reasons this year's Australian World AIDS Day efforts seek to raise the level of awareness in the community about the risks of HIV infection for women. We need greater support and understanding for people living with HIV/AIDS, and more education and prevention initiatives.
"Australia's public health campaign to combat HIV/AIDS has been one of the best in the world and must continue for the next generation of young Australians," Dr Glasson said.
1 December 2004
CONTACT: Judith Tokley (02) 6270 5471 / (0408) 824 306