Increased attention will in turn help change the culture of silence surrounding abuse and make societies more sensitive to abused and exploited children. But while laws forbidding sexual exploitation of children exist in nearly every nation on earth, they are notoriously hard to enforce . Even when cases are brought to court, abused children often make reluctant witnesses. Children are not only at risk of HIV infection when they are sexually exploited or abused, but also when they engage in consenting sex. In many countries, many children have their first sexual relationships when they are under the age of 18.
Adolescents also engage in unprotected sex with sex workers.
Love and trust also make children vulnerable. The rate of partner turnover is often greater during adolescence and the early twenties than in later years. This applies not only to casual partners but to regular relationships which occur one after the other. In a world with AIDS, the injection of illicit drugs, always a risky behavior, carries an additional danger - HIV infection. When people of whatever age share needles and syringes to inject drugs, microtransfusions of blood occur - and these are relatively efficient for transmitting HIV and other microbes.