A report on women's health recently released by the World Health Organization (WHO) cites HIV as the leading killer among young women worldwide. The report defines "young women" as between the ages of 15 and 49. It's hard to believe these findings are a reality, considering the public awareness push regarding HIV/AIDS in this country for more than 20 years. However, a significant percentage of these cases are in Africa, where education is so desperately needed. Any student of health communication or media campaigns will attest to the difficulties of creating effective public awareness messages. Be that as it may, HIV/AIDS education efforts clearly must be continued in all parts of the world until this statistic is no longer a factor. Read a related article here. Read the full WHO report on women's health here.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
A Sad (and Shocking) Statistic
A report on women's health recently released by the World Health Organization (WHO) cites HIV as the leading killer among young women worldwide. The report defines "young women" as between the ages of 15 and 49. It's hard to believe these findings are a reality, considering the public awareness push regarding HIV/AIDS in this country for more than 20 years. However, a significant percentage of these cases are in Africa, where education is so desperately needed. Any student of health communication or media campaigns will attest to the difficulties of creating effective public awareness messages. Be that as it may, HIV/AIDS education efforts clearly must be continued in all parts of the world until this statistic is no longer a factor. Read a related article here. Read the full WHO report on women's health here.
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That is a sad stat. Although I'm not sure women are entirely to blame in this, especially in Africa. I remember seeing a stat a few years ago that one in every five women in Africa will be raped at least once in her lifetime (equally sad and shocking). I don't know what that stat is today but even if it has dropped, so many are risk. It is heartbreaking!
ReplyDeleteYes, that rape statistic is just horrifying. Unfortunately, education is not likely a helpful tool in this case.
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