¡¡¡¡HARARE, Oct. 12 (Xinhuanet) -- The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has said women and girls are more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS infection than men, New Ziana reported Sunday.

¡¡¡¡"For reasons of biology, gender and cultural norms, females aremore susceptible than males to HIV infection," the agency said in its State of the World Population 2003 report.

¡¡¡¡The agency said women usually had sexual relationships with older men who were likely to be already infected.

¡¡¡¡"Some adolescent girls are attached to sugar daddies who support them in exchange for sex," it said.

¡¡¡¡In Africa sexually active girls had partners two to 10 years their senior providing them with gifts such as soap, perfume, meals and jewellery.

¡¡¡¡Some poor girls exchanged sex for money for school fees or to help their families.

¡¡¡¡Once in these relationships with older men, girls had little power to negotiate the use of condoms.

¡¡¡¡The common myth that sex with virgins cured AIDS had made girlsmore vulnerable from desperate men.

¡¡¡¡Girls who married older men were also at risk of getting infected because their partners would be sexually active with manypartners.

¡¡¡¡"Young people need information, skills and services so that they can protect themselves so that the epidemic can be turned around," UNFPA said.

¡¡¡¡It said an estimated 7.3 million young women were living with HIV/AIDS compared to 4.5 million young men.

¡¡¡¡The agency said two thirds of newly infected youth aged between15 and 19 in sub-Saharan Africa were women. Enditem