Friday, June 4, 2010

HIV/AIDS Is A Woman's Disease

Found on feministing. I cite

So it is official: The face of HIV/AIDS is a woman’s face.
Although it was former United Nations’ Secretary General Kofi Annan who made that famous statement a few years ago, the World Health Organization (WHO), confirmed the metaphor last week when HIV/AIDS was identified as the leading cause of death and disease amongst women worldwide. AIDS is officially a woman’s disease.


A WHO, yes, yes, yes. I was not very surprised and tried to answer to that, but sadly there were no comments allowed. So after this posts was floating around in my drafts for quite some time, here it is:


There is an error in that posting. HIV/AIDS is not  the leading cause of death and disease amongst women worldwide it is the leading cause of death and disease for women in their reproductive years (15–44). That is a big difference (life expectancy is in most countries higher than 44). Here is a list of the leading causes of death for women by the WHO

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs334/en/index.html

Even in low income countries HIV/AIDS is the 6th reason of death for women.

Also to call AIDS a women`s disease when about half (15.3 million men and 15.5 million women) of all people infected with that disease are men is a bit far out there as well.

http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2009/9789241563857_eng.pdf (page 43)

This finally gives us an answer

http://data.unaids.org/pub/EPISlides/2007/2007_epiupdate_en.pdf

as well as the wiki entry

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiv

More than 64% of all people living with HIV are in sub-Saharan Africa, as are more than three quarters of all women living with HIV.

So one could say in sub-Saharan Africa AIDS is a women's disease (if one wants to other HIV infected men there). Everywhere else it seems to be a men's disease though (if one follows that way of thinking).
Still 65 drafts left. Expect more walls of text....muhahahahaha....bwahahahahahaha (it is so very late here).

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