"The face of HIV/AIDS

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For the first time, it was reported that women accounted for about half of all HIV-infected adults.

"The face of HIV/AIDS has become that of a young African woman - seven of 10 people living with the disease are in sub-Saharan Africa, and 58% of infected Africans are female. Of the 38.6 million adults living with the disease worldwide, 19.2 million are women."¹⁵¹

A study controversially suggested that more people in Africa may have been infected with HIV through medical injections and treatments than was previously thought.¹⁵²

"Our observations raise the serious possibility that an important portion of HIV transmission in Africa may occur through unsafe injections and other unsterile medical procedures."¹⁵³

In December the US Agency for International Development (USAID) announced it was adopting a new approach to preventing sexual transmission of HIV around the world, which would be known as "ABC" (Abstinence, Being faithful and Condom use). USAID said its ABC approach was based on the strategies adopted in Uganda, which it credited with reducing HIV prevalence in that country. The decision to adopt the ABC approach came three months after USAID hosted an experts technical meeting on behaviour change approaches to HIV prevention.¹⁵⁴

The UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, used World AIDS Day as a platform to speak out against HIV-related stigma and discrimination. He said that, 'the impact of stigma can be as detrimental as the virus itself,' and he urged people to replace 'fear with hope, silence with solidarity'. He went on to say that, 'the fear of stigma leads to silence and when it comes to fighting AIDS, silence is death'. The use of phrase 'silence is death' was interesting, as it had been used around the world for many years by AIDS activists, initially by the group ACT UP.