Today we can look back to the Cairo meeting and see much progress, and many areas for optimism. There is growing evidence that HIV is the single greatest threat to national welfare and development in a range of countries. Dr Piot also warned of dropping literacy rates in communities where children from AIDS-stricken households are being taken out of school because their families can no longer afford school fees, or they are needed to help out at home.
Young women appear to be the most vulnerable, for both biological and socio-economic reasons.