From challenges to opportunities: responses to trafficking and HIV / AIDS in South Asia.

South Asia is a region marked by various forms of inequities and disparities be they economic social or political. Within this region several forms of socially sanctioned violations and practices related to issues of sex and sexuality reinforce discriminatory norms and values and intensify stigma and marginalization. Such norms and practices further influence masculine and feminine identities and socialise men and women into specific gendered-roles that are crucial determinants in exacerbating the multiple vulnerabilities of women and men to a plethora of developmental challenges including unsafe migration trafficking and HIV/AIDS. It is estimated that the prevalence of HIV infection is the highest in women aged 15-25 years while it peaks in men between five to ten years later. Almost 50 percent of those living with HIV/AIDS are found to be women (UNAIDS 2002). In order to comprehensively address the multiple vulnerabilities faced by young persons especially young women to HIV/AIDS it is imperative to focus on existent gender relations and inequalities that define the lives and realities faced by women and men. (excerpt)