E/2014/27 E/CN.6/2014/15 Reaffirming also the need to eradicate poverty, which can contribute to the vulnerability of women and girls to HIV infection and aggravate the impact of the epidemic by depleting resources and incomes, thereby contributing to inadequate food and nutrition, which leads to poor treatment outcomes, and to impoverishment owing to loss of income and increased health expenditures, and endangers the survival of present and future generations, Noting with concern that violence against women and girls, including harmful practices, are among the contributory factors to the spread of HIV, and further noting with appreciation the Secretary-General’s 2008-2015 campaign “UNiTE to End Violence against Women”, Recognizing that populations destabilized by armed conflict, humanitarian emergencies and natural disasters, including refugees, internally displaced persons and, in particular, women and children, are at increased risk of HIV infection, Concerned that women and girls with disabilities face increased vulnerability to HIV as a result of, inter alia, legal, social and economic inequalities, sexual and gender-based violence, discrimination and violations of their rights, Concerned also that the global HIV and AIDS epidemic disproportionately affects women and girls and reinforces gender inequalities, that the majority of new HIV infections in young people aged 15 to 19 years occur among girls, and also concerned that women and girls bear the disproportionate burden of caring for and supporting people living with and affected by HIV, and that they become more vulnerable to poverty as a result of the epidemic, Concerned further that women and girls are physiologically more vulnerable to HIV than men and boys, especially at an early age, and that this vulnerability is increased by their unequal legal, economic and social status, including poverty as well as other negative cultural factors, violence against women, girls and adolescents, child, early and forced marriage, premature and coerced sexual relations, sexual exploitation including commercial sexual exploitation, female genital mutilation and other harmful practices, Noting with alarm the rise in the incidence of HIV among people who inject drugs and that, despite continuing increased efforts by all relevant stakeholders, the drug problem continues to constitute a serious threat to, among other things, public health and safety and the well-being of humanity, in particular women and girls and their families, and recognizing that much more needs to be done to effectively combat the world drug problem, Deeply concerned that there are women, including young women, living with HIV who would like to space or limit pregnancy but are currently not using an effective method of contraception owing to limited access to voluntary family planning services and a broad range of contraceptive methods, Noting with concern the increased vulnerability to HIV faced by sex workers, especially women sex workers, who are 13.5 times more likely to be living with HIV than other women worldwide, and reiterates the importance of 14-02869 63/95