Hon Deputy Speaker, hon Members of Parliament, gender inequality and violations of women's rights put women and girls at risk, leaving them with less control over their bodies and lives than men. Women and girls often have less information about HIV and Aids, as well as fewer resources to take preventive measures. They face barriers in the negotiation of safer sex, which is reflected in economic dependency and unequal power relations. Sexual violence, a widespread and brutal violation of women's rights, intensifies the risk of transmission.
While it is assumed that marriage provides protection from HIV and Aids, evidence suggests that it can be a major HIV factor, especially for young women and girls. The imbalance reflects not only the heightened physiological liability of girls and young women, but also the high prevalence of intergenerational partnerships.
The lack of woman-initiated prevention methods and broader social inequality impedes the ability of young women to reduce their sexual risk. More than 30 million people are living with HIV. Globally, women account for half of all infections.
Women increasingly make up the majority of HIV/Aids-infected persons in sub- Saharan Africa, where the epidemic has reached its highest levels. In parts of Africa and the Caribbean, young women aged 15 to 25 are up to six times more likely to be HIV positive than men of the same age.
Despite the epidemic's vast toll on women and girls, fewer than half of countries provide a specific budget for HIV-related programmes for women and girls. Millennium Development Goal 6 calls for the reversal of the spread of HIV by 2015. To that end, more resources are needed, and strategies and programmes must be targeted to women in particular.
In a United Nations, General Assembly's special session in 2001, more than 180 countries agreed that gender equality and women's empowerment are fundamental in reducing girls' and women's vulnerability to HIV and Aids. This can be achieved only with a collective sense of shared responsibility and accountability. Middle-income countries accounted for 52% of HIV and Aids expenditure. However, low-income countries remained almost wholly dependent on external support.
Women are bringing a gender-equality and human-rights perspective to all spheres, spearheading strategies that make clear links to underlying factors such as violence against women, the feminisation of poverty and women's limited voice in decision-making.
According to the 2008 World Health Organisation and United Nation's Aids global estimates, women comprise 50% of people living with HIV and Aids. In sub-Saharan Africa, women constitute 60% of people living with HIV and Aids. In other regions, men having sex with men, injecting drug users, sex workers and their clients are among those most at risk.
Many countries, including some with severe and growing epidemics, have not given the response that the pandemic deserves. Middle-income countries, in particular, should cover their own HIV and Aids costs, with the possible exception of a few hyper-endemic countries that will need continued assistance.
Low-income countries will remain largely dependent on international HIV and Aids assistance in the coming years, highlighting the need for the more effective use of resources, streamlining donor reporting requirements, alignment with national strategies and institutions and more predictable funding. Low-income countries have an important role to play in funding and taking ownership of their response. Long-term financing for the response highlights the urgent need for sustained support for the Global Fund.
Lack of education and economic security affects millions of women and girls, whose literacy levels are generally lower than that of men and boys. Educating girls makes them more equipped to make safer sexual decisions.
Working together, taking extraordinary and unified steps towards building a world free of HIV and Aids, and the correct use of medicine turn HIV and Aids from a death sentence into a chronic illness and reduces mother-to- child transmission. [Applause.]