Considerable advances have been made in the global response to the AIDS epidemic over the last decades. Despite this progress, however, young women and adolescent girls in Africa are still being left behind.

In the sub-Saharan region, AIDS-related illnesses remain the leading cause of death among girls and women of reproductive age. In 2013, 74% of new HIV infections among African adolescents were among adolescent girls. Young women and adolescent girls acquire HIV on average five to seven years earlier than young men, and in some countries in the region HIV prevalence among this population can be as much as seven times that of their male counterparts. 

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