Sub-Saharan Africa remains the region most heavily affected by HIV.
Women and girls continue to be affected disproportionately by HIV with a total of 15.9 million.
Women’s human rights to full control of their bodies and their sexuality must be respected and protected.
However, respect for rights can only be meaningful if it is accompanied by creating awareness of harmful cultural practices, limiting women from making informed choices.
In Kenya, young women between 15 and 19 years are three times more likely to have HIV than their male counterparts, while 20-24 years old are 5.5 times more likely to be living with HIV than men their age.
In Sub-Saharan Africa about half of the people who are infected with HIV before 25 years were women accounting for approximately 60 per cent of estimated HIV infections. (Avert organization)
In 2018, Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 67 per cent of HIV infections worldwide, 68 per cent of the new HIV infections among adults and 91 per cent.
This is according to WHO and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS 2009 report.
The region accounted for 72 per cent of the world AIDS-related deaths.
Last year, an estimated 2.9 million people living in Sub-Sahara Africa were newly infected with HIV, bringing the total number of people living with HIV to 25.7 million.
Women’s vulnerability to HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa stems not only from greater physiological susceptibility to heterosexual transmission but also to the severe social, legal and economic disadvantages they often confront.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, girls aged 15-19 years typically have six sexual partners.
This limits the power to resist unsafe sex and more than four-fifths of new HIV infections in women are from sex from their husband or primary partner.
Women often lack access to education and knowledge of sexual and reproductive health including HIV, especially if they live in isolated areas.
They are brought up not to discuss issues related to sex, or even question their situation.
Many women lack skills in decisions regarding their health and lack access to health care
To address this burden of health, the Ministry of Health together with civil society organizations should tailor programmes that target the most marginalized women in the community to empower them to stand up and speak out for their rights while making starches for them to get help easily.
The writer is a youth advocate, Reproductive Health Network Kenya
Edited by Kiilu Damaris