World AIDS Day was founded in 1988 by the World Health Organization. This year's important event focuses on the vulnerability of women and girls to the HIV pandemic.
Women now account for nearly half of the world's approximately 40 million cases of HIV. HIV rates are even higher in the "newer" areas of the epidemic: The number of HIV-positive women in East Asia jumped by 56% in the past year alone, and in Africa nearly 60% of all HIV infections are among women. In sub-Saharan Africa, three out of every four HIV-positive youths are women.
Worse, these frightening numbers are bound to only grow higher, thanks both to biological reasons -- a woman is simply more susceptible to HIV than a man -- and to a climate of stigma, abuse and discrimination that prevails throughout much of the world. Unless we as a society work harder to empower women everywhere to protect themselves from infection, the pandemic will increasingly take on a woman's face, and continue to threaten the stability of societies and governments across the globe.
روز جهاني ايدز در سال 1988 به وسيله سازمان جهاني بهداشت تأسيس شد. امسال مهترين معزلي كه روي آن متمركز مي شويم، آسيب پذيري زنان نسبت به ويروس HIV است.