Isatou Marenah, president of the Society for Women and Aids in Africa, the Gambia chapter (SWAAGAM) has disclosed that more than 17.5 million women are now living with HIV, stating that this figure is almost equal to the number of men living with HIV.

Mrs Marenah made these remarks at a one day validation meeting of the draft document of the model law on HIV/AIDs and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), last Sunday at the NaNA conference hall in Kanifing.

According to her, at least 7,000 women around the world become infected every day and in Africa, 59% are adults and nearly 75% are young people and women.

She observed that one of the causes of this alarming rise in HIV infection is that the difference in physical male up between men and women which makes women almost twice as likely to become infected with HIV from men as men are from women.

“But apart from the biological in equality, there are many deeply rooted social patterns which explained why women are increasingly becoming infected. Many social norms and patterns across the world can influence the adoption of behaviours that increase the risk of HIV infection. The suspicion of immorality and infidelity threatened women’s fragile status and scare them away from carrying or insisting on using preventive measures” she disclosed.

The SWAAGAM president also highlighted that government and civil society groups have since the onset of the pandemic, developed many interventions to address the menace, noting that much progress have been made, but the mere fact that the disease is still spreading fast, calls for concerted efforts to address the economic, political, cultural and human rights issues that perpetuate its spread.

“Although the universal declaration of human rights and the UN convention as well as national constitutions provide general protection against human rights abuses, the peculiar nature of the HIV/AIDs pandemic which continues to promote stigmatization and discrimination, calls for the intergration of HIV/AIDs specific human rights protection into national policies and legislation,” Mrs Marenah observed.

She further revealed that the declaration on the commitment of HIV/AIDs, adopted during the 26th special session of the General Assembly of the United Nations on HIV/AIDs, held in New York in 2001 and the Declaration of African Heads of States at the Abuja and Addis Ababa Summits, implored signatory countries to enact, reinforce and implement in as much as possible, laws and regulations and any other measures, in order to eliminate all forms of discrimination against people infected and affected by HIV/AIDs and STIs prevention and control for west and control Africa, was adopted in Djamena, Chad, by parlimentarians, sociologists, doctors, journalists and legal experts.

“SWAAGAM has since had consultation meetings with 35 stakeholders, formed a task force, paid courtesy calls to Vice-President Dr. Aja Isatou Njie-Saidy, First Lady, Madam Zainab Jammeh and secretaries of state for Health, Education and Justice and all of those who supported them.

Alieu Jammeh, Director of NAS also spoke at the ceremony.