Nairobi — Gender inequality and the inability of women to negotiate safe sex are behind the continued spread of the pandemic, according to Stephen Lewis, UN special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa.

"In some parts of the world there is terrible gender inequality, and that is true of much of the developing world and certainly for Africa, and that's what is driving the virus: the inability of the women to say no ... to say you must wear a condom," he said in an interview reported in a Canadian publication.

"You have to have laws against sexual violence, which also transmits the virus. You have to have laws for property rights and inheritance rights, and economic empowerment and political representation." Lewis noted that 77 percent of HIV-positive people aged 15-24 in Africa were women.

"That is particularly true with younger women marrying older men. The women think they are in a monogamous relationship and the ... older man, with much more experience and probably partners outside the marriage, brings the virus into the marriage."

Lewis, whose five-year tenure ends in December, expressed his desire to see his shoes filled by an African woman, as they were the "focus of the virus", and reiterated his call for the UN to create a powerful agency to represent the rights of women.

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations ]