Why AIDS in Asia Should Worry Us

Letter to the Editor

To the Editor:

The deputy executive director of the United Nations AIDS program points out that H.I.V. and AIDS are affecting women and girls in ever greater numbers, and that to curb the epidemic, their needs must be addressed (news article, July 7).

Of the six million young people living with H.I.V. and AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, 75 percent are girls or young women. In India, where 5.1 million people are already living with H.I.V., it is crucial that action be taken now as the number of infected girls and women begins to rise.

But the most basic step forward is repeatedly overlooked and underfinanced: improved reproductive health services and education for all women and girls. This is common sense, yet it is not happening in India, and it is not happening in the rest of the world.

We know how to stop the tragedy that has befallen African women from happening in Asia. What we need is concerted will.

ADRIENNE GERMAIN
President, International Women's Health Coalition
New York, July 7, 2004

Originally published in the New York Times, July 11, 2004. Reprinted with permission.

Tag it:

?