This preliminary overview of available literature suggests that within the context of gender and the HIV epidemic, sexual violence is a complex phenomenon with multiple determinants, consequences and manifestations. UNAIDS estimated that by December 1997, 30.6 million people around the world had been infected with HIV, with more than 70% of these infections occurring through unprotected sexual intercourse. The overall proportion of these infections that are attributable, directly or indirectly, to sexual violence is unknown. Nonetheless, existing evidence on gender and sexual inequality and available information on the nature and scale of sexual violence (particularly against women and girls), suggests that it is likely to be significant.