HIV Is the Top Killer of Women Worldwide

November 10, 2009

According to the World Health Organization, HIV is the number one killer of women age 15-49. Heart disease kills older women, especially in rich countries, but of the 30.8 million HIV-positive adults in 2007, 15.5 million were women.

A staggering 26.1 percent of the population in Swaziland are infected with HIV — and half of women age 25-29 there are HIV positive.

Women are especially vulnerable to HIV, WHO says, because of biology and gender inequality. WHO Director General Dr. Margaret Chan said, "It's time to pay girls and women back, to make sure that they get the care and support they need to enjoy a fundamental human right at every moment of their lives, that is their right to health."

Source: Getty

6 Comments

Yogaforlife 3 years 27 weeks

There are also places where myths about how to "cure" HIV/Aids is endangering women. Some places believe you can cure HIV/Aids by sleeping with a virgin, and subsequently this results in the rape of young/often prepubescent girls who are at risk of contracting it from the rape. (Not to mention rape is a horrible thing in itself!)

snarkypants 3 years 27 weeks

plus, infected mothers can transmit to their babies.

bellavita214 3 years 27 weeks

Staple, it is also an issure of women's health because of gender inequality. As a wife, in many countries, women are no longer individuals but "property" of their husbands. They have no right to speak up when their husbands visit brothels, take another wife, or have a mistress. They are also not allowed to ask their husbands to use a condom. It is these women who are contracting HIV/AIDS at alarming rates. I think the fact that safe sex was never even a choice for them makes it a women's issue.

runningesq 3 years 27 weeks

Well said, Tres. This is heartbreaking because it is - in theory - preventable (unlike many cancers, heart disease, etc.)

POPSUGAR Sex & Culture 3 years 27 weeks

It's a women's health issue, staple salad, because women are more likely to contract HIV infection during vaginal intercourse because of how delicate vaginal tissues are, because they're more vulnerable to rape, they may live in a culture where there's not enough education about prevention, or if there is, the men who are having sex with them are not using condoms. Plus...it's a women's health issue if it's the top killer of women in the world!

staple salad 3 years 27 weeks

According to those figures, doesn't that mean that half of all people infected with HIV are women? So... the argument that "OMG WOMEN ARE AFFECTED BY HIV A LOT!" doesn't really seem to hold up. That said, what can really be done? I mean, unless you want HIV to be kept within the gay communities, only targeting women will still keep the disease at 50% womens and 50% men's. It's not just targeting one group... so I don't see how making it a women's issue really does anything.

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