21:20 21.10.2008 | All news from "AIDS/HIV"
Africa: HIV And Aids Prevention Beyond 'A. B. C' Will Reduce Infection Among Women
They are worried that current methods such as abstinence, faithfulness and use of condom (ABC) are not enough to protect women because of issues such as rape, early marriage and negative use of condom.
The slogan is said to have first been adopted by the Botswana government in the late 1990s. UNAIDS (United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS) defines A as abstinence or delaying first sex, B-being safer by being faithful to one partner or by reducing the number of sexual partners and C-correct and consistent use of condoms for sexually active young people, couples in which one partner is HIV-positive, sex workers and their clients, and anyone engaging in sexual activity with partners who may have been at risk of HIV exposure.
However, ABC is not considered a realistic option for the millions of women and girls in Africa who are often taught to obey men.
Mrs. Bernice Heloo, President of the Society for Women and Aids in Africa (SWAA International) at a workshop to provide the media and women the skills to report effectively on HIV/AIDS noted that more women are getting infected due to several factors including gender inequality.
"Women are already marginalized and HIV and AIDS have worsened their plight. It is very difficult for them to negotiate condom use."
She recognized that although science has made a lot of gains towards HIV prevention with Anti Retroviral Therapies (ART), the fact still remains that people do not have access to treatment and cannot buy medicine, particularly women.
"Now HIV management had progressed like any other chronic infection. It is no longer a killer disease because it can be managed in several forms. The media has a great responsibility to project this to reduce stigmatization and discrimination."
She lamented that political leadership towards persons living with HIV and AIDS (PLWAs) is not forthcoming and that it is the responsibility of all to ensure that the Africa race does not become extinct.
Mrs. Heloo stressed the need to address the myth(s) that HIV is a disease for the poor and rather be projected as a disease that can affect anybody, irrespective of class, race and gender.
She cautioned society to handle with care claims by some traditional medicine practitioners of having a cure for HIV and AIDS, as some unscrupulous ones use such claims to make money.
USAID proposes that HIV and AIDS prevention programs must be developed in collaboration with the communities they serve and must, in addition to promoting individual behavior change, address the social norms, environmental factors, and policies that contribute to new infections.
Therefore, it is important to recognize that the proper implementation of the ABC approach extends far beyond simply advocating for "A", "B", and "C".
A Lecturer at the Ghana Institute of Journalism, Mr. Tim Quashigah observed that reporting HIV/AIDS is a political issue, therefore journalists need to understand the political climate to enable them report without compromising their ethics.
He deduced that every African government is clearly aware of the harsh realities of HIV/AIDS, including the erosion of hard-won economic gains and urged journalists to educate themselves on the dynamics of HIV to enable them report effectively to reduce HIV and AIDS, especially among women.
"One of the palliatives to finding common ground for effective reporting on HIV/AIDS would be to report with precision and clarity. Language is the key. The use of pretentious, unnecessarily complicated, excessively technical language, (difficult to understand) may only lead not only to a distortion of the facts, but a mere mumbo jumbo / noise."http://allafrica.com/