In the context of the HIV AIDS pandemic, gender inequality has proven fatal.

Noting with concern that the AIDS epidemic is affecting women and girls in increasing numbers,

Noting with concern that the AIDS epidemic is affecting women and girls in increasing numbers ,

Concerned by the increasing number of child headed households, particularly those headed by orphan girls, including those orphaned by the HIV AIDS pandemic,

At its sixtieth session, the Commission on Human Rights in its resolution 2004 27 stressed that the advancement of women and girls is the key to reversing the HIV AIDS pandemic.

Deeply concerned about the aggravating effects that major diseases, in particular the human immunodeficiency virus acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV AIDS) pandemic, cause in the context of natural disasters and complex emergencies,

Noting with great concern that, according to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV AIDS (UNAIDS), the HIV AIDS pandemic claimed an estimated 3.1 million lives in 2004,

National policies and action plans would be vastly more effective if they acknowledged and acted on the interconnectedness between the two pandemics of HIV and violence against women.

Most researchers believe that HIV originated in sub Saharan Africa during the 20th century it is now a pandemic, with an estimated 38.6 million people now living with the disease worldwide.

Encourages the ongoing work by the United Nations system in providing widespread information on the gender dimension of the pandemic and in raising awareness about the critical intersection between gender inequality and HIV AIDS

The HIV pandemic, further aggravated by widespread and increasing prevalence of other communicable diseases, such as malaria and tuberculosis, undermines the economic situation in many countries of Africa and elsewhere, including the Caribbean, Central and Eastern Europe, China and South Asia.