ABSTRACT
More than half of all people living with HIV are women and girls (WHO & UNAIDS 2010). In sub-Saharan Africa, more women than men are living with HIV, and young women aged 15-24 years are as much as eight times more likely than men to be HIV positive (WHO & UNAIDS 2010). In developed countries, the women who are intravenous drug users, partners of drug users or bisexual men, or involved in sex work are more likely to be positive for HIV (WHO and UNAIDS 1999). There are higher proportions of young women than young men who acquired HIV infection through sex. Their exposure to the virus at an earlier age, coupled with physiological and sociological factors increases their risk (WHO & UNAIDS 1999).
