Jon S. Corzine: “Today we are considering landmark legislation to provide $15 billion to expand prevention, treatment, and care in the…”

“Today we are considering landmark legislation to provide $15 billion to expand prevention, treatment, and care in the developing world to address the AIDS epidemic and other infectious diseases. We know that the heart of the global HIV epidemic is in Africa. We also know that the center of the epidemic in Africa is among women. Biologically, women are four times more vulnerable to HIV infection than men. And tragically, in Africa, and indeed throughout the developing world, it is widely understood that a woman's single greatest risk factor for contracting HIV is being married and monogamous. This astounding and tragic fact bears repeating: The typical woman who gets infected with HIV has only one partner--her husband. Women's vulnerability increases due to their lack of economic and social power in many societies, where they often cannot control sexual encounters or insist on protective measures such as abstinence or mutual monogamy. This trend devastates families and puts children at risk. If we pass legislation today that ignores this stark reality, we will be back here a few years from now, scratching our heads and wondering what we can do to stem the tide of infections. If we want to contain the epidemic, we have to help women. Women need HIV-prevention tools that they can control to safeguard their health and that of their families and communities. One of the most promising prevention tools is microbicides.”