Girls HIV plight presented to European Parliament

Plan's presentation to the European Parliament

3 December 2007: For World AIDS Day on 1 December, Plan highlighted the vulnerability of girls to HIV and AIDS in a presentation to the European Parliament.

Head of Plan’s EU liaison office Deepali Sood delivered key messages from Plan’s ‘Because I am a Girl – the State of the World's Girls 2007’ report, which reveals:

• an estimated 7,300,000 young women are living with HIV and AIDS compared to 4,500,000 young men worldwide
• in Sub-Saharan Africa 59% of people living with the virus are women.

Reasons for the specific vulnerability of young girls to HIV range from a higher biological risk to issues such as lack of status in society, discrimination against girls, gender based violence and lack of power.

Need to act

Ms Sood urged the EU, as well as the African Union as it enters into a new strategic partnership with the EU, to act on their commitments in the context of the Millennium Development Goals and the 2006 UN General Assembly special session on AIDS, by ensuring:

• the 5,000,000 children orphaned by AIDS are protected and supported by 2010
• HIV prevalence in young people between 15 and 21 years reduces by at least 25% in all African countries
• at least 80% of pregnant women have access to prevention of mother-to-child transmission treatment
• at least 80% of those in need, particularly children, have access to HIV and AIDS treatment.

MEPs listen

The meeting was attended by MEPs, officials from the European Parliament and the European Commission, UNAIDS and other civil society actors.

Other keynote speeches to mark World AIDS Day came from the HIV/AIDS Alliance which spoke on youth and children, and ILGA-Europe which highlighted how gays and lesbians are affected by HIV and AIDS.

Download Because I am a Girl - the State of the World's Girls 2007 report (pdf, 4.1mb)