Twenty years ago, a close friend of mine died of AIDS. I remember being horrified at the extent to which the disease attacked his body. With every area that the drugs were able to control, another failed and a whole new treatment had to begin.

All this time has passed and I am regularly made aware through the media of the continuing devastation of the epidemic. With the latest UN statistics stating that 600 people become infected with HIV every hour, how could I not feel compelled to give what I can to help?

In 2004, an estimated 640,000 children worldwide aged 14 or younger became infected with HIV. Over 90% were babies born to HIV-positive women, who acquired the virus at birth or through their mother’s breast milk. Of these, almost nine-tenths were in sub-Saharan Africa.

Kofi Annan said that “If you want to save Africa, you must save the African women first. It is they who care for the young, the old, the sick and dying. It is they who nurture social networks that help societies share burdens AIDS in Africa and around the world is more and more wearing a woman’s face. We will gain control of the pandemic only if women are the very centre of our strategies.”

I photograph women everyday; I am regularly exposed to beautiful, privileged and healthy women through my work. For this publication, I have taken photographs of women from around the world, from diverse backgrounds, who have been deeply affected by HIV/AIDS. I would like to show them as they are; mothers, wives, daughters, hardworking professionals who continue to be positive, generous and loving despite their ordeals. This disease affects everyone, not only the stereotypes associated to HIV/AIDS that some of us may still believe.

I felt helpless reading the testimonials and realising how many women become infected because they do not have the right or control to voice their rights. I wanted to help these women speak out and tell their stories. I hope their voices will be heard.

Mario Testino