HIV is easily treatable with pills. But there are no pills for stigma. Stigma grows on the ignorance behind the statement by UKIP's leader Nigel Farage. There is no substance behind his words.

In 2011 the UN General Assembly resolved to halve the number of people who inject drugs being diagnosed with HIV. Silvia Petretti writes from her own experience, and asks why the needs and rights of women who use drugs are being overlooked at this year's International AIDS Conference

44,3% of all new diagnoses of HIV are among migrant women. New culturally appropriate approaches are needed to community work, in order to reach those women who are most marginalized, says Silvia Petretti.

il 44,3% di tutte le nuove diagnosi di infezione da HIV si registra tra le immigrate. C'è bisogno di nuovi approcci al nostro lavoro all’interno della comunità che tengano in considerazione l’adeguatezza culturale e che ci permettano di offrire sostegno anche alle donne che sono più marginalizzate, dice Silvia Petretti.

When I entered the meeting room I was welcomed by smiles and greetings in different languages. A dark woman with oriental eyes, from Kazakhstan, two statuesque blondes in vertiginous heels from St Petersburg.....

In the UK the number of women living with HIV has been steadily growing since the beginning of the epidemic. Newly diagnosed women were only twenty percent of the new infections in 1996, but over forty percent in 2007. There are now more than 25,000 HIV positive women in the UK, but while government policy fails to address the link between HIV and violence against women, it is left to under-funded and under-staffed support groups to campaign for the human rights of women living with HIV.