Africa Knowledge Management Portal
Informing health decisions and actions
Description
At the centre of an ever-strengthening HIV/AIDS storm, young people aged 15 to 24 now make up more than one quarter of the 38 million people living with the disease. More than half of the 5 million new infections in 2003 were among people under the age of 25. The majority of these new infections were among young women, who, for reasons typically beyond their control, are at greater risk of contracting HIV, and who, for reasons most fully explained by gender disparities, bear a disproportionate share of the HIV/AIDS burden.