PolitiFact: Do girls make up the majority of new HIV infections among African youth?
“…Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently penned a letter decrying the impact of poverty and disease on young girls in Africa, a group he says make up a disproportionate amount of new HIV infections among young people. … Included in Trudeau’s message was a claim that young women ‘account for a shocking 74 percent of all new HIV infections among adolescents in Africa.’ … The data from UNAIDS and UNICEF closely matches his numbers, though Trudeau would have been more precise if he said sub-Saharan Africa. Evidence there shows that young girls between the ages of 10 and 19 are significantly more vulnerable to HIV infection than their male peers due to a wide variety of economic and gender-related issues. Trudeau’s claim is accurate with the small caveat about his use of Africa and not sub-Saharan Africa. We rate his claim Mostly True” (Cariz, 9/7).