Women's Inequality Main Driver of HIV. 11/4/11

Namibia:The AIDS epidemic in southern and eastern Africa is closely linked to the "relentless cycle of vulnerability affecting girls and young women".

AllAfrica

THE AIDS epidemic in southern and eastern Africa is closely linked to the "relentless cycle of vulnerability affecting girls and young women".

According to the UNAIDS organisation, the extremely high levels of HIV infection here can only be reduced if societies and government begin to understand the link between AIDS and the "disempowering social and cultural norms and attitudes" controlling the sexual relations of women.

Empowerment of women in southern and eastern Africa, whose rate of infection is the highest, is key to stopping the epidemic, research indicates.

Last week, experts and representatives from a number of countries in the region met in Windhoek at a conference to review the measures that have been taken to date in the prevention of AIDS in the region. The recommendations will be presented next week at a high level African Union conference to discuss and review the progress made in Africa. Ultimately, that meeting will result in a paper on recommendations at a high level United Nations meeting in June, toward a review of the progress made on HIV globally.

Central to discussion this week in Windhoek, was that the global AIDS epidemic is largely driven by the "staggering" infection rate of women aged between 15 and 24 years. According to recent statistics, 30 years into the epidemic, women and girls account for nearly half of the 33 million people living with HIV worldwide. And in sub-Saharan africa, women constitute 60 per cent of people living with the disease. Most worrying to experts is the fact that almost 80 per cent "of young people, aged between 15 and 24 years, living with HIV are female".

In 2008, a meeting held to discuss the fact that prevention responses were not decreasing the epidemic in any significant way in sub-Saharan Africa, it was concluded that the "principal drivers or causes of new infections" should become central to the fight against the disease.

Research since then has shown that a major driver of the disease in southern and east Africa, are social norms which put women and girls at much higher risks than men.

Therefore, a comprehensive strategy would "address the immediate practices that lead to HIV infection as well as the fundamental human rights violations, harmful social norms, weak community and leadership capacities", amongst other things.

At the top of the list of social norms impacting on the high rate of infection amongst women, is evidence that "violence against women presents a serious risk factor for HIV". However, the link between HIV and violence against women, poses challenges to governments who have largely focused on the two aspects separately and distinctly. Studies show that "interventions ought to focus on addressing inequality as the primary underlying cause of both violence against women and HIV". Key to this strategy, is the empowerment of women in all spheres of society.

In addition, a new strategy on HIV prevention globally, and in particularly in southern and east Africa, should spearhead initiatives that invite the "entry of men and boys into a terrain that was traditionally dominated by women". The research indicates that while this remains a strategy in the region, "men are becoming more aware of the common destiny they share with women and some have formed networks to promote a change in attitude and support gender work in general".

The urgency of an accelerated response to the HIV epidemic, and thus to the empowerment of women in a region which traditionally remains strongly patriarchal, is underlined by the numbers.

A press release issued by the UN Secretary-General recently reported that "every day, 7 000 people are newly infected, including 1000 children". And while the "investments in the AIDS response are yielding results", the "gains are fragile".