The Deputy Chief of the United Nations AIDS task force says that any battle to combat the disease will fail unless the rights and needs of women, especially in the developing world, are adequately addressed.

The present strategy of abstinence before marriage, condom use and monogomy is not sufficient, according to Dr. Kathleen Cravero. 'They are not female-centred strategies and they are not responding to the realities of women's lives,' Cravero said during a recent news conference in London. 'We are finding in most regions of the world, they simply do not have the economic and social power or choices, or control over their lives to put that information into practice,' Cravero said.

UNAIDS chief doctor, Peter Piot, went further saying the women's movement and anti-AIDS movement had to join forces.

'There was reason enough before AIDS, but now the link between the whole gender inequality and death has never been so direct as with AIDS,' Piot said. 'If AIDS is not enough to shift the agenda for women, then what is enough?'

'It's time now for the women's movement and the AIDS movement to find each other, and that hasn't happened yet,' Piot said. 'Ultimately, without putting women at the heart of the response to AIDS, I don't think we will be able to control this epidemic.'

AIDS has hit women in disproportionate numbers in poorer and developing nations. In many cultures, the UN study indicates, women are either unable to refuse sexual advances or have no way to earn enough money to eat without using sex. In other developing countries, very young woman often marry older men who have already had many sexual experiences and may subject their young wives to the virus. A woman is also more vulernable to catching the HIV virus from intercourse than a man is.

The UN report concluded, 'The fact that the balance of power in many relationships is tilted in favour of men can have life-or-death implications. These factors are not easily dislodged or altered, but until they are, efforts to contain and reverse the AIDS epidemic are unlikely to achieve sustained success.'

In other words, we have a lot of work that needs to be done.