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Senior UN official revisits impact of AIDS on women

    JOHANNESBURG

    The UN Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa, Stephen Lewis, has warned that married women in sub-Saharan Africa are more susceptible to HIV infection than sexually active single women.

    Lewis recently told students at the Harvard School of Public Health that this was due to married women "erroneously" believing they were in monogamous relationships, and therefore less at risk of contracting the virus.

    He warned that ongoing gender inequality in Africa also meant women were unable to challenge "predatory sexual overtures". Around 60 percent of people living with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa are women.

    "If anything has troubled me more than any other aspect of exposure to this horrific pandemic, it's the disproportionate vulnerability of women; it's the dreadful, eviscerating reality of gender inequality," said Lewis.

    The full transcript of Lewis's remarks, plus audio excerpts, is available here

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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