To stem HIV in Africa, prevent transmission to young women.

One after another, community-based studies of HIV infection in east and southern Africa con®rm an appalling reality: young women (15±19 years) are infected with HIV in truly enormous numbers compared with their male counterparts (Fig. 1). The most striking example of these high infection rates among young women is published in this issue [1]. In that population-based survey in Carletonville, South Africa, the prevalence of HIV among young people aged 14± 24 years was 9% for men and 34% for women, and the infection rate was 67% for women aged 24! In addition, data emerging from the study by Buve et al. [2] suggest that the high HIV prevalence among women aged 15±19 years could be critical in provoking and maintaining an explosive HIV epidemic. This should give policy-makers pause for thought, demanding both increased prevention efforts and new approaches to prevention.