"I will give almost anything to be sure I will live to be forty", 26-year-old Rachel Ong, a non-governmental organization delegate to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Programme Coordinating Board, said tearfully as she ended her presentation in a panel discussion held at United Nations Headquarters in New York on 22 January 2007. The entire audience erupted in applause.

Ms. Ong of Singapore, who described herself as living in the hands of God, was diagnosed with HIV when she was 18 and has had AIDS for the past four years. She shared her personal perspectives on battling the disease globally, saying that women and girls from poor countries are the most vulnerable to this growing epidemic. In Asia, women represent 30 per cent of adults living with HIV, said Ms. Ong, who has worked as a peer educator and advocate among youth and women across the Asia-Pacific region since 1999. Many factors beyond the scope of health authorities have contributed to the spread of HIV/AIDS among women and girls, she said, adding that international initiatives to fight poverty, stop armed conflict and improve education should incorporate efforts to stop the spread of the epidemic.

Besides Asia, the UNAIDS 2006 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic reveals that in Eastern Europe and Latin America, a high rate of women and girls are infected with HIV. Dr. Mariangela Simao, a pediatrician and Director of the National STD/AIDS Programme in Brazil, speaking about the Brazilian Government's national plan to fight the epidemic among women, showed a recent survey indicating that 92 per cent of the population is aware that AIDS can be prevented by using condoms. Brazil currently has the largest distribution of female condoms in the world, and although they are costly, she said that female condoms are highly effective in preventing women from contracting HIV. Women who trusted their partners and therefore did not use condoms were at higher risk, and this was true even for married women, due to power imbalances in some marriages. Dr. Simao also pointed out that the implementation of policies to protect women's sexual and reproductive rights, reduce drug use and halt gender-based violence is paramount to fighting HIV/AIDS.

According to Thoraya Obaid, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), women comprise almost 50 per cent of people living with HIV--17.7 million women--an increase of over 1 million since 2004. "The feminization of the epidemic is mainly a consequence of gender inequality and discrimination", she said, adding that men and boys around the world must change their behaviours toward women.

"What we need is more action and less talk", Ms. Obaid said, speaking on behalf of UNFPA, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP). She called on delegates to implement their countries' plans to fight HIV/AIDS, explaining that the United Nations role is to harmonize initiatives by countries and UN agencies through UNAIDS, as well as to bring the world's attention to the epidemic. UNAIDS provides support to Governments in accordance with the "Three Ones" key principles--one national AIDS coordinating authority, one agreed HIV/AIDS action framework and one agreed country-level monitoring and evaluation system--to ensure that HIV/AIDS, and women in particular, are high on the global agenda, Ms. Obaid pointed out.