AIDS a big part of female health woes

The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) on Wednesday said HIV/AIDS contributed greatly to the health problems affecting women globally, often because developing countries had critical shortages of contraceptives and condoms.

According to the UNFPA, lack of contraception led to 76 million unintended pregnancies in the developing world and 19 million unsafe abortions internationally each year.

Worldwide, young women aged 15 to 24 were 1.6 times more likely to be HIV-positive than young men. UNFPA executive director Thoraya Obaid commented, "In Africa, AIDS has a young woman's face, and many of them are married - it is their husbands who bring HIV into the house."

Obaid suggested that the solution to curbing the spread of HIV/AIDS was a combination of sex education, abstinence, couples remaining faithful to their partners and the increased use of condoms.