To the Editor:

Re “Hope in South Africa ” (editorial, Aug. 31):

Your suggestions for H.I.V. prevention, and those of some of the scientists you refer to, show remarkably persistent neglect of the most likely to be infected: girls and women.

In South Africa, women, especially very young women, are three to five times more likely to be infected than men because of rampant sexual coercion and violence. They cannot control the number of partners their men have and may have more than one themselves just to survive, often for economic reasons.

Babies are infected because women lack access to the necessary health services and, more important, H.I.V. prevention in the first place. The little evidence available on adult male circumcision indicates no protective effect for men’s partners, and it may, in fact, affect women negatively.

A sustainable approach to ending South Africa’s epidemic requires putting women at the center of H.I.V. prevention efforts by ensuring access to female condoms, comprehensive sexuality education for all young people, and full protection of girls’ and women’s human rights.

Adrienne Germain
President
International Women’s Health Coalition
New York, Aug. 31, 2009

Click here to view the Letter on the New York Times website. 

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