World AIDS Day, December 1: women and girls

While the U.S. fights over abstinence vs. condoms, neither one is an option for many women, due to sexual violence--throughout the world, from a fifth to half of all girls and young women report that their first sexual experience was forced. Women are twice as likely as men to be infected through a single act of unprotected sex. In parts of Africa, more than a third of all teenage girls have HIV. But going to school is protective. These are just a few of the facts about HIV and gender that need to be more widely known.