We've got the power:Women, Adolescent Girls and the HIV response
Between 1995 and 2018, the steepest decrease in new HIV infections among women occurred among adolescent girls and young women (aged 15 to 24 years)—a decline of 44% globally. Prevention programmes that focus on this age group are having an impact. Nonetheless, in 2018, approximately 6000 adolescent girls and young women acquired HIV each week, and they accounted for 60% of the estimated 510 000 [300 000–740 000] new HIV infections in that age group. In sub-Saharan Africa, gender-related factors fueling the epidemic are especially stark: adolescent girls and young women were more than twice (2.4 times) as likely to acquire HIV than their male peers.The world is still a long way from achieving the global target of reducing new HIV infections among adolescent girls and young women to fewer than 100 000 by 2020: in 2018, that number stood at 310 000 [190 000–460 000], three times higher than the target. Gender inequality, stigma and discrimination, criminalization, violence and other human rights violations prevent women from key populations from seeking and receiving the services and support they need. For example, in six of the 13 countries that reported data to UNAIDS in recent years, less than half of transgender women stated that they were able to access multiple HIV prevention services.
