Publication

Eastern and southern Africa remains the region most affected by the HIV epidemic, accounting for 45% of the world’s HIV infections and 53% of people living with HIV globally. Strong shared responsibility between the region’s governments, civil society, international donors and the research community is delivering steep declines in HIV infections and AIDS-related mortality. However, huge challenges remain. Gender inequalities and gender-based violence, combined with physiological factors, place women and girls in eastern and southern Africa at huge risk of HIV infection. In 10 countries in the region, laws and policies that require parental consent to access sexual and reproductive health services discourage adolescent girls from accessing the services they need to stay healthy. Removal of these requirements is needed, as is the rapid scale-up of intensive combination prevention programme packages, including elements that improve school attendance and empower young women to mitigate their own risk.