E/2000/27 E/CN.6/2000/9 priority on the development agenda and to implement effective prevention strategies and programmes, especially for the most vulnerable populations, including women, young girls and infants, also taking into account prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV; 6. Calls upon the international community, relevant United Nations agencies, funds and programmes and intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations to intensify their support of national efforts against HIV/AIDS, particularly in favour of women and young girls, in the worst-hit regions of Africa and where the epidemic is severely setting back national development gains; 7. Urges Governments to take steps to create an environment that promotes compassion and support for those infected with HIV, to provide the legal framework that will protect the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS, to enable those who are vulnerable to have access to appropriate voluntary counselling services and to encourage efforts to reduce discrimination and stigmatization; 8. Also urges Governments, with the assistance of relevant United Nations agencies, funds and programmes and intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations to create an environment and conditions that will take care of and support children orphaned by AIDS; 9. Encourages Governments to recognize the challenges facing girls and women, particularly older women, who are primary caregivers for people living with HIV/AIDS, and to provide them with the necessary economic and psychosocial support; 10. Further urges Governments, with the assistance of relevant United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, to adopt a long-term, timely, coherent and integrated AIDS prevention policy, with public information and life-skills-based education programmes specifically tailored to the needs of women and girls within their sociocultural contexts and sensitivities and the specific needs in their life cycle; 11. Encourages Governments and civil society to support women’s groups and community organizations in changing harmful traditions and practices affecting the health of women and girls and to take steps to eliminate all forms of violence against women, including rape and sexual coercion, which aggravate the conditions fostering the spread of the epidemic; 12. Encourages accelerated research on vaccine development and intensified additional research on promotion of the female condom, microbicides and other options that offer women more control over the protection of their reproductive and sexual health; 13. Requests Governments to ensure that condoms and care for sexually transmitted diseases are available in places accessible and affordable to women while ensuring their privacy; 14. Also requests Governments to provide comprehensive health care for women with HIV, including treatment for opportunistic diseases and reproductive health services; 15. Reaffirms the value of the coordination by the Joint United Nations Programme on Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome and calls upon all elements of the United Nations to examine their programmes of work to see how and where combating HIV/AIDS, especially among women and children, can be incorporated into their activities; 16. Welcomes the efforts of the Joint United Nations Programme on Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome in promoting sexual and reproductive health education for young people, in particular girls, while encouraging them to delay sexual initiation, and, in this context, urges that greater attention be given to the education of men and boys about their roles and their responsibilities in preventing the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS, to their partners; 17. Urges the Joint United Nations Programme and its co-sponsors to intensify their efforts in assisting Governments to determine the best policies and programmes to prevent women and young girls from becoming infected with HIV/AIDS; 18. Requests the Joint Programme and its cosponsors, bilateral and multilateral donors and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, in their efforts to prevent HIV infection, to give urgent and priority attention to the situation of women and girls in Africa; 7