Women four times more affected by AIDS - UNFPA

If Mozambique is to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS, it needs a development concept centred on human beings, a UN Population Fund (UNFPA) representative has said.

The country representative, Petra Lantz, estimated that at least 45 percent of new HIV infections occurred among Mozambicans aged between 20 and 24, with four times more women becoming infected than men.

During the recent launch of UNFPA's annual report Lantz explained: "That's why more stress must be laid on empowering girls: so that they can attend school, obtain life skills, protect themselves against sexually transmitted diseases and AIDS, and avoid early pregnancies."

The report, 'The Cairo Consensus at Ten: Population, Reproductive Health and the Global Effort to End poverty', celebrates the 10th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development, held in Egypt in September 1994.