a. Read the following news story and answer questions about it

1. What is the main subject of this article?

2. What is the major cause of death for women aged between 20 and 40 in the Americas, Western Europe and Africa?

3. In what ways does AIDS threaten women?

4. How many people in the world are now infected with HIV?

5. Is the infection rate increasing faster among men or women?

WOMEN IN AIDS FRONTLINE Main cause of death for women aged 20-40.

Aids is now the major cause of death for women aged between 20 and 40 in major cities in the Americas, western Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa, it was revealed yesterday.

A new report, "Triple Jeopardy-Women and AIDS", published by the international research institute Panos, highlights the growing threat to women.

AIDS threatens women in three specific ways, the report argues: As individuals infected themselves, as mothers who may risk infecting their unborn children and as those who will bear the brunt of caring for those who are ill.

The World Health Organisation estimates that eight to 10 million people worldwide are now infected with HIV - the virus which leads to AIDS - and that one third of them are women.

But alarming new evidence suggests that the infection rate is increasing faster among women.

Recent studies in Zaire show that women aged between 15 and 30 are four times as likely to contract the disease as their male counterparts.

Globally, the virus is spread mainly through heterosexual contact and women are twice as likely to contract the disease through a single exposure to an infected partner than men are.

In New York, AIDS is already the leading cause of death for young black women aged between 15 and 40.

Author of the report Judith Mariasy said yesterday: "In the West the very real threat to women hasn't really registered on public consciousness or on the policy makers."

"Services for HIV-positive women are lagging behind and clinical trials and educational programmes are not designed with women in mind." by Lucie Hyndley