Samantha Stevens
Soc 202
Prof. Sills
08/24/07
New estimates from experts reveal that almost 40 percent of new HIV cases in Asia and the Pacific involve young women, especially young married women. Studies in Thailand, India and Cambodia show that the main source of HIV among young women is their spouse. While new information shows fewer people in the region living with HIV and AIDS than was originally thought, researchers are finding a disproportionate gender skew in the epidemic
HIV is a virus transmitted either sexually or through blood-borne pathogens. It affects the body’s immune system and leads to AIDS. It is estimated that there are approximately 5.4 million people living with HIV/AIDS in the area.
These statistics are beginning to worry experts. What is causing this feminization of the HIV/AIDS epidemic? Suggests Sunila Abeysekera, executive director of Inform, an organization working to resolve human rights conflicts: "Discrimination against women [and] unequal power relations between men and women constitute the basis of gender inequality that fuels the feminization of the epidemic." Adds Annmaree O’Keefe, of Australian relief organization AusAID: “The low economic and social status of women in many societies means that women are not in a sufficiently powerful position to negotiate safe sex.”
While it is certainly important to educate both men and women about HIV/AIDS and how it can be prevented, the problem here is much deeper. The Asian/Pacific community must change its views on the female population and their standing and value in society. Even if women know how to prevent HIV/AIDS, it will not do them any good in a violent sexual situation where the choice to refuse intercourse, or to practice protected sex, is certainly not up to them. In short, while the strides towards education are certainly helping, I feel that society must first erase the many age-old stigmas about women that still exist. Only then will true progress be made against this new HIV/AIDS threat.
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