adminCatherine Murombedzi
EDUCATE a woman and you have educated the nation. A recent cliché I heard says ‘Education as the vaccine to HIV’. This got me thinking. Surely an educated person is empowered to make decisions on their health. They are economically free, which gives them power to choose the appropriate time to start a family. Be it man or woman, education makes one independent and is an empowering tool.
For an educated girl child, education is therefore the vaccine to end the maladies facing them.
Sophia Mukasa Monico, UNAIDS, Regional Support Team, Eastern and Southern Africa, said this while speaking to over 50 religious leaders in Malawi last week. The symposium was organised by the World Council of Churches and Ecumenical HIV and Aids Initiative in Africa (EHAIA) and focused on ‘‘Transformative Masculinities and Femininities in the Context of Sexual and Reproductive Health’’ and ran over three days in Mangochi.
Mukasa Monico acknowledged that remarkable progress has been made in the region but this needs not slacken as this can see the gains made being eroded.
She noted that the message needs to be drummed up the same way or even with more gusto than it was a decade ago.
“It seems messaging, which played a pivotal role in the response to new HIV infections, has taken a back seat. We are over three decades in the throes of the epidemic and Southern Africa remains heavily burdened. Significant increase in ART and PMTCT coverage has been seen,” said Mukasa Monico.
“There has been a significant decline in AIDS deaths and in TB/HIV deaths. Also of importance is that there has been a decline in new adult and child HIV infections. This has been made possible by funding for the HIV response which has been extraordinary and has enabled countries to significantly expand their responses. Increased focus on improving effectiveness and efficiency of the response still needs to be driven,” she said.
Mukasa Monico castigated the gender inequalities which fuel the spread of HIV.
“Pervasive gender inequities, including extreme levels of GBV, fuel the epidemic among women and girls. There are power imbalances between women and men, girls and boys, socio-cultural, economic, and political spheres. There are harmful gender norms and traditions that subjugate women, creating barriers against women and girls reaching their full potential,” she said.
“There are facets of gender inequality, which result in women and girls being more vulnerable, lacking autonomy over their own health, including sexual and reproductive health and rights, making them less likely to be able to negotiate safe sex and claim their rights,” she added.
She noted with great concern that women and girls have limited access to financial freedom despite that in a rural set-up they were the custodians of the homes, the tillers of land and managers of the home-front, but had little or no say in the disposal of finances they worked hard to get.
“Women have less access to financial autonomy. They lack autonomy at the household level leading to poor access to educational opportunities,” she said.
She pointed out a key population which if not taken aboard can be left behind.
“If we want to control the HIV epidemic we need to focus on location and population group. In this region, it is important to particularly focus on young women, pregnant women, sex workers and men having sex with men. Leaving anyone in these groups behind will not see us getting to zero new HIV infections,” she said.
“Women living with HIV are particularly vulnerable to violence; in Zimbabwe, for example, rates of reported sexual or physical violence are 29 percent higher among women living with HIV than other women,” she noted.
Violence can be physical, emotional and emotional violence is rife in unions but not documented.
Mukasa Monico called on renewed commitment from political leaders.
“For policies, funding, and services to result in positive change in women’s lives, we need a renewed leadership that challenges norms, and guides societies for social transformation.
“The end of AIDS is achievable if we reduce gender inequalities, including violence. Gender equality requires social transformation, which starts with political leadership and dedicated action.”
She noted that leaders tended to make commitment at global forums which they did not fulfil back home.
“State commitments made in global platforms to respect, protect and promote women and girls’ rights, and end AIDS in Africa, must be translated into concrete, resourced, country-level action,” she challenged leaders.
“Innovative approaches to prevention, treatment, and protection from violence and HIV, such as conditional cash transfers to prevent school dropout and HIV infection, must be utilised and built upon as valuable options, and included in country-level planning and budgeting processes,” said Mukasa Monico.
HIV remains the leading cause of death among women of reproductive age.
There are almost 380 000 adolescent girls and young women (10-24 years old) newly infected with HIV — around 1 055 per day.
Young women (15-24 years old) in sub-Saharan Africa are twice as likely as young men to be living with HIV.
Last but not least, she urged the engagement and leveraging the power and influence of religious and cultural leaders to advance Sexual Reproductive Health Rights and the HIV response as imperative.
Online Reporter