UNAIDS press statement and video message
Globally, in 2024, around 4,000 adolescent girls and young women newly acquired HIV every week — 3,300 of whom live in sub-Saharan Africa, where women and girls make up around two in every three new HIV infections.
“HIV thrives where gender inequality persists,” said Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “On this International Women’s Day let us honor all those organising for justice, defending rights, and supporting healthcare in the hardest of circumstances. Let us support community leadership and community outreach and the women spearheading such movements. Let us reform unjust laws. Protect services. Defend rights. Because ending AIDS and building a just world begins with rights, justice, and action for all women and girls.”
Access the UNAIDS press statement and video message here.