Flemish Government and UN Launch Women and AIDS Programme

The Flemish Government and the United Nations have announced a four-year programme to combat the growing feminisation of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Mozambique. According to figures from the Mozambique Government, an estimated 58 percent of HIV-positive people in the country are women and girls. "Focusing on women and girls is essential. Women are not often in a position to negotiate safer sex in Mozambique, and when women lose their husbands or partners to AIDS, they are often denied their inheritance rights, leaving them destitute and even more vulnerable", the UNAIDS Country Coordinator in Mozambique, Telva Barros, was quoted as saying in a statement. The programme, to be coordinated by UNAIDS, will identify gaps in the response to women and girls in Mozambique, and strengthen the capacity of local NGOs and government to address these weaknesses in their activities.