A 16-year old girl in my country can expect to be in secondary education, or just beginning to work. But in many parts of the developing world, she can be guaranteed neither schooling nor employment. Worse, young girls in the 15-24 age range now make up over 60 per cent of those of that age-group living with HIV and AIDS around the world, with the figure rising to 75 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa. In some countries, adolescent girls face infection rates that are five to six times higher than those of boys of the same age. It's very hard for a 16-year old girl to be the embodiment of strength and hope that she ought to be, when she is HIV positive and threatened with AIDS.

Forty million people worldwide are living with HIV and AIDS, with five million people newly infected every year. AIDS kills three million people annually. It is prevalent in Africa and the Caribbean; it is spreading rapidly in Asia and Eastern Europe. There are many causes for women's and girls' greater vulnerability to infection, including a culture of silence surrounding sex, a lack of education about the means of transmission of HIV and the ways of protection against it, the stigma attached to women buying and using condoms, and a high rate of violence and exploitation within relationships. A woman is defenceless if a man has several sexual partners, or if he was infected before marriage, or if he refuses to use a condom. A girl is defenceless if sex with an older man is the only way she can get educated, fed or clothed. And once women are infected, whole families and communities are affected. Sick women cannot fulfil their traditional roles as the carers in families, and as the productive labourers in rural and agricultural economies. At the core of women's and girls' vulnerability to HIV is the issue of their equal rights -- or lack of them -- in society.

On World AIDS Day, we should ask ourselves 'how can the world overcome AIDS?'

It can do so using the prevention, treatment, education and vibrant leadership which has already been so successful in countries like Uganda, Senegal, Thailand and Brazil. We know what works. We can overcome AIDS, and we must do so.

Part of the answer is money. There is a £6.6 billion AIDS funding gap for this year alone. The UK is playing its part as the world's second largest donor in the fight against AIDS, and we have pledged £

1.5 billion to the fight over the next 3 years. We are also doubling our contribution to the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria. But more funds are needed: not least because we have a moral imperative to help our fellow human beings; and -- in an increasingly inter-dependent world where the successes and failures of one country or region or continent are shared by all -- we have an interest in doing so.

Part of the answer is in combining immediate solutions -- like the provision of male and female condoms, and making available essential antiretroviral drugs at reasonable prices -- with longer-term approaches. Trials are being carried out on antibiotic drugs for children, and on microbicide gels which could dramatically reduce the risk of female infection. Scientists are working hard to find a vaccine. Throughout the developing world, we are increasingly seeing the media carrying the message of preventing HIV and confronting discrimination through entertaining and educational TV programmes. At the same time, Ministries of Education are starting to make HIV awareness a part of a school education.

Part of the answer lies in special help to meet the needs of those worst affected by AIDS, such as orphans and other vulnerable children. Practical steps include food security programmes, and small loans to families affected by the death of parents to AIDS. Much of the work has to deal with issues which go way beyond AIDS itself. The challenges of AIDS are the challenges of education, of health services, of women's rights, of business and economic development, of peace and security.

The key, however, lies in political will and strong leadership. While the international community will continue to lead on finding the funds and the best methods to beat AIDS, the determination and leadership has to be felt at every level of the societies that are worst hit by the disease. The direction given by developing country governments needs to reflect the leadership of schools, churches, and local communities. And women and girls -- for so long the face of poverty, and now the shared face of AIDS -- need to be put at the centre of our efforts to wipe out this terrible disease.

Hilary Benn is UK Secretary of State for International Development.