Women and girls are being urged to protect themselves and make healthy decisions about sex as the world prepares for World AIDS Day tomorrow.

Rates of AIDS and HIV have hit a global high among women, prompting this year?s theme, which has issued by the World Health Organisation and adopted by governments all over the world.

According to statistics released by the United Nations and the WHO, women now make up nearly half of the 37.2 million adults aged between 15 and 49 and living with HIV.

Bermuda is no exception to the trend, according to activist Carolyn Armstrong, who said local young people have enough information about the disease but are still having sex in their early teens.

The director of the Lighthouse, the Island?s only residential home for people with HIV/AIDS in Smith?s Parish, said young girls in particular are put at risk by heavy drinking and the date rape drug which increases their susceptibility of contracting the disease.

Mrs. Armstrong said she had met young women who felt, even at the age of 13 and 14, that sex was a natural part of their relationships.

?They?re saying they can?t stop, they?re enjoying this, they feel it?s a natural part of the relationship for them,? she said.

And older people who are new to dating are not as careful as they should be when it comes to safe sex, said Mrs. Armstrong.

?We?re encouraging women to be pro-active, to take their health and their future into their own hands and to make decisions based on the information that is available to them not just on their feelings,? she said.

?(But) we?re also encountering women who are not as responsible as they should be, the message is strong but on a whole it seems like it is not being taken seriously enough by women as a whole.?

She said men often do not share the same values as women, a fact people who become sexually active often do not seem to consider.

?Young women who are students or professional members of the workforce feel more empowered because they may carry condoms, but they have to be aware that men don?t necessarily look at life the way they look at it or share the same values.

?You may be a sexual partner to someone but you may not necessarily share the same values or outlook on life,? she said.

The Lighthouse, which provides a nine-bed home to people who are living with the disease, is currently filled to capacity and there is almost always a waiting list for a bed at the facility. The home provides a place for men, women, and children with HIV AIDS to live temporarily.

Helping agencies such as the Allan Vincent Smith Foundation, which acts as an information centre for people with the disease, and the Health Department have held crisis intervention talks and education programmes in public schools to deliver the message of safe sex to young people.

Although the Allan Vincent Smith Foundation has closed, activist Michael Fox, runs a website which provides information locally. Mr. Fox has said in past articles with that contracting the disease is increased by the male macho attitude which remains a risk factor in the spread of the disease.

He said men were failing to tell women when they had multiple sex partners.

The availability of condoms is still an issue in Bermuda, he added. Some shops were still selling them from behind the counter which increased the embarrassment factor.

?They should be placed on a store shelf where people can look at them and pick them up without them having to ask for them in a line behind someone they know,? said Mr. Fox.