During the microbicides dissemination meeting on Friday, Prof Luo said society had accepted the exploitation of sexual norms without realising that HIV was not about men but women.

Prof Luo said there was need for proper planning and response at different levels in the fight against HIV and AIDS.

She said the fact that the two microbicide gels HPTN 035 and MDP 301 were found to be safe was good news.

Prof Luo said Zambia, like many other countries, was now looking forward to a new generation of microbicides that could work because the current tools that were used to prevent HIV were male driven and therefore could not protect women.

"An effective microbicide would help protect women because women want them 99 per cent. The first generation has not been effective so we are looking at the second generation which will be HIV specific, ARV based," she said.

She said studies to identify these effective microbicides needed to be done ethically and to a high standard.

Prof Luo said there was need for a policy that clearly articulates a research agenda for Zambia in HIV prevention.

And a representative from the Human Rights Commission Sitali Amukena said from the investigations that the Commission conducted in Mazabuka, illiteracy levels came up as the biggest problem.

Amukena said the women that were used did not understand what the gel could do and that most of the women did not use condoms and that was how some of them got pregnant.

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