AIDS experts: Women need more help in AIDS battle (AP via Yahoo)
AIDS experts: Women need more help in AIDS battle
By Lauran Neergaard | Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) AIDS specialists heard fresh appeals Wednesday to expand assistance for women far beyond a global focus on pregnancy.
Many countries have increased treatment of HIV-infected pregnant women to lower their chances of infecting their babies. But UNICEF's Dr. Chewe Luo said that most countries don't automatically continue anti-AIDS drugs for those women after their babies are weaned important for keeping them healthy long-term. She praised Malawi for starting to do just that.
And she said adolescent girls the 10- to 18-year-olds are too often ignored by global HIV testing, prevention and treatment programs. Without protecting them, Luo said, all the investment for healthy babies was for nothing.
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Giving women tools to protect themselves when their partners won't use a condom is crucial for battling the AIDS epidemic. Women already make up half of the 34.2 million people worldwide living with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS; even more 60 percent in hard-hit Africa are women.
http://news.yahoo.com/aids-experts-women-more-help-aids-battle-152245005.html