The AIDS/HIV epidemic is growing fastest among young people. In Africa, women make up three quarters of young people (15-24) living with AIDS.
In sub-Saharan Africa, the world's worst affected region, close to 60 percent of all adults with HIV are women and 76 percent of young people living with HIV are female. This is mostly due to the gender inequalities that exist in the societal structures, e.g. more than half of the girls (54 percent) in sub-Saharan Africa do not complete primary school.
Education is a key strategy for reducing HIV infection among girls and women. In Zambia, the HIV infection rate for educated women declined by half, while it remained the same for uneducated women.
Traditionally, women are the caregivers of the family and in many cases when children are orphaned, the biggest burden shifts to the surviving daughters who become caregivers of their orphaned siblings.
The Fountains of Light Foundation believes that securing girls’ education is critical during these times because as girls become mothers, they will be the first teachers of the next generation.