Gender dynamics and the challenges for HIV prevention.
Information on the transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), leading to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), has been widely disseminated since the early 1980s, and yet curbing new infections remains a major public health dilemma. In response to the global challenge of HIV/AIDS, most control and prevention interventions have targeted "core groups' with messages which include:- 1. Reduction of individual risk through responsible sexual behaviour or behaviour change, such as, delayed sexual debut, abstinence, monogamy and condom use. 2. Communal (as a society) adoption of a risk reduction strategy e.g. reduced rate of sexual partner change and avoiding multiple partners. 3. Improved, early and aggressive STD treatment programmes. However, data from sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere shows how the epidemic, in the general population, appears to thrive unabatted. Large proportions of women and some men, in none of the traditional high risk core groups, are increasingly becoming infected with HIV. Most of the women appear to be at risk of infection not so much because of their own behaviour, but that of their partners of husbands. In this continuum, our response has been fragmented and non-strategic. Few programme activities have been developed that address men as a critical core group potentially propagating or sustaining the epidemic. The preoccupation with female sex workers and other core groups (e.g. truck drivers) could have overshadowed the need for programmes and interventions that make men, in general, aware of HIV risk and less likely to infect their sexual partners. Challenges posed by HIV require innovative strategies that foster behavioural and social change in the situation of men at risk and their partners.
Mbizvo
M T
MT
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology University of Zimbabwe Medical School, Avondale, Harare.
D017954:Africa South of the Sahara; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission*; D006266:Health Education; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012737:Sex Factors; D011477:Sex Work; D012725:Sexual Behavior