Women are at special risk of HIV as they often have less control over when, where and whether sex takes place. HIV infections and AIDS deaths among men outnumber those among women on every continent except sub-Saharan Africa. Without men, the virus would have little opportunity to spread. More than 70 per cent of HIV infections worldwide occur through sex between men and women, and a further 10 per cent through sex between men. Another 5 per cent or so take place among people who inject drugs, four fifths of whom are men.
Special circumstances place many men at especially high risk of contracting the virus.
Men need to be encouraged to adopt positive behaviours, and to play a much greater part in caring for their partners and families, particularly in light of the millions of children orphaned by the AIDS epidemic who need adult help to grow up clothed, housed and educated. It has already been demonstrated that men's behaviour can change, and that such change in turn alters the epidemic.