Greetings from England, where a woman named Sarah Jane Porter has just been sentenced to over two and a half years in prison for “deliberately” infecting her lover with HIV. The backstory is clearly more complex than the media coverage has allowed, but, in a nutshell: Porter knew she was HIV-positive, and in possession of this knowledge, she “encouraged” her boyfriend, as well as some other men, to have unprotected sex with her. Her boyfriend is now HIV-positive.

I’m not particularly interested in adding my judgment of Porter to the pile—plenty of others are taking care of that. But I have been ruminating on the story quite a bit, and on the issues of “deliberate” infection that it raises, particularly in light of another article that made its way into my inbox this month. That article, entitled “Breaking the HIV/AIDS spell in Africa,” was by Salma Maoulidi of Sahiba Sisters Foundation, based in Tanzania. Here’s the part that caught my eye:

The reality of HIV/Aids came close to home when a close friend of mine lost her baby girl. Although she had suffered bouts of TB it only became clear that she may be infected with the virus after her very sick daughter was diagnosed with the virus. Indeed it is not exceptional that many women get to know about their positive status in this manner since they do not fit the profile of women who are likely to be infected with the virus in the sense that they are not prostitutes or “loose” women but women who are in stable relationships, the majority having the respectable status of being someone’s wife and, therefore, by local social standards, outside the ambit of the risk category associated with immoral behavior.

Consequently, a significant number of HIV positive women I know contracted the virus as unsuspecting victims. They were brought up to believe that it was enough that they were in a happy, healthy and lasting marriage. The husband’s fidelity was immaterial to complete this equation. On the contrary, the overwhelming perception is that a chaste and faithful wife sufficed to protect the family from ill health and ensure a strong progeny. Increasingly women are finding that an institution that was traditionally meant to provide them with security, stability, health and respect is in fact endangering their lives and livelihoods.

This story may come from Tanzania, but the phenomenon that Maoulidi describes is by no means unique to East Africa. Half of the 40 million people currently living with HIV/AIDS are women, up from 41% in 1997 and 35% in 1985. And worldwide, 80 percent of new infections in women result from sex with their husband or primary partners.

Now, don’t get me wrong: I’m not suggesting that we liberate Porter and imprison 40 million men instead. But both stories speak volumes about the quality of our global dialogue on HIV/AIDS, and the uneven way that we understand women’s and men’s sexual rights and responsibilities within the landscape it’s created—no matter where we are.