Women, the Girl Child and HIV and AIDS, 60th Session Commission on the Status of Women

The global AIDS response has made significant progress in halting and reversing the epidemic. The number of new HIV infections among women and girls has stabilized and the number of AIDS-related deaths has fallen significantly worldwide. Access to life-saving antiretroviral therapy has expanded considerably, in particular among pregnant women, and the prevention of mother-to-child transmission has resulted in fewer new HIV infections in newborns. However, the progress for women and girls is not equal across all regions. Much more needs to be done to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment, to scale up prevention and treatment efforts for women and girls and to address the legal, economic and social factors that continue to put them at greater risk of HIV infection.