I have recently come across many different articles focusing on the struggle against HIV/AIDS in Africa; however, the articles I have come across have presented the situation in a different light than I had expected to see. We all know that HIV/AIDS has been an obstacle faced in Africa for decades and is still extremely prevalent today; however, did you know that many organizations and health clinics feel that the only way to win the fight against HIV/AIDS is to get the men of Africa involved? This is because organizations, such as The Project of Engender Health and many others have found that a root cause of HIV/AIDS in Africa is due to unequal gender relations. Because of the unequal gender relations, unsurprisingly it is the women who are more affected by this virus in comparison to the men.
You may ask why this is so? Well consider and analyze the present day gender roles in Africa. Women are powerless in Africa and are seen as subordinate beings to men. They have unequal access to health care resources and receive little information regarding their own health and bodies. Women have the strict roles of maintaining the household and attending to the needs of men, no matter what these needs may be, including sex. The male’s dominant and controlling role in these societies forces women to be submitted into situations such as rape (including within a marriage), sexual trafficking and incest to name a few. All of these horrific events expose females to the possibility of becoming infected by AIDS/ HIV, which is so prevalent in these societies. Women do not have the power or the tools to stand up to men and tell them to practice “safe sex” or to prevent themselves from being victims of rape or incest. Therefore, organizations feel that it is vital to involve men and boys in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Since the male gender has so much dominance over women in these societies and because they make most of the decisions within relationships due to unequal power relations, males should also take the lead role in fighting to prevent further spread of HIV/AIDS. Researchers feel that these males can use their head roles to make a change and this can be done by teaching males how to prevent the spread of HIV, teaching them how and where to get tested and by teaching them the importance of gender equality and the need for them to stand up against gender-based violence. In fact, The Project of Engender Health has begun to use the media to teach men about these different topics. For example, they have come up with DVDs that provide males with information about HIV/AIDS and encourage males to take on positive roles in preventing and eliminating the spread of the disease.
Therefore, including African men and boys in this fight against HIV/AIDS and gendered-violence may be a solution for this issue, and can be made possible through the use of the media. By providing information and encouragement through the media, males can learn new roles and most importantly positive roles in regards to preventing HIV/AIDS and gendered-violence.
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3 comments:
I found this topic very interesting. I never really thought about how nowadays women are more affected with the HIV virus than men are and what the reasoning behind it was in Africa at least. I agree that the men should have a part in the fight against AIDS, but change comes slowly. Thank you for giving us this information, especially as World AIDS Day approaches.
Brenda
I read a similar article last year about the epidemic in Africa. It is good to see that they learned what the problem is, why the virus is still spreading. It will take a skilled applied anthropologist to change the mind patterns for the men in the country. It takes more then telling them women are people too, to get them to change their mindset.
I also think this topic is very interesting, and find it interesting to note that women are more affected with HIV than men. Also, the fact that men are slowly contributing to the fight against HIV/AIDS is important.
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