'As a man, I know men's behaviour must change, that we must raise boys differently, to have any hope of eradicating H.I.V and preventing the emergence of another such scourge...To change fundamentally how girls and boys learn to relate to each other and how men treat girls and women is slow, painstaking work. But surely our children's lives are worth the effort.' - PASCOAL MOCUMBI, former Prime Minister, Mozambique

FOR many years now, the main message to young Africans seeking to avoid HIV infection has been the "ABC" of prevention - Abstinence, Being faithful and Condom use.

In Zambia, our own former presidents, Kenneth Kaunda and Frederick Chiluba are at logger heads over the methods that could work better in the prevention of HIV/AIDS.

Dr Kaunda's argument is that condom use is essential in the absence of abstinence from sex, while Dr Chiluba argues that advocacy for condom use encourages illicit sex and immorality.

But according to a recent report of the United Nations (UN) Secretary General's Task Force on Women, Girls and HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa, women and girls translate to two thirds of young people living with the virus or AIDS related illnesses in Southern African countries.

The findings of the UN Secretary General's report shows that gender inequality fuels HIV infection because many women and girls cannot negotiate safer sex or turn down unwanted sex.

The report says while all young people in the 15-24 age group were at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS, girls were especially vulnerable.

It said because the HIV virus enters the human body through its mucous membranes, girls were at special risk, since their birth canal membranes were still immature and could easily be torn during early sexual intercourse.

Another factor revealed in the report was that prevailing social norms in Southern Africa called for girls to be passive and ignorant of the realities of sex while men were taught to dictate the terms of sexual relationships.

The report clearly states that there is nothing inherently wrong with the ABC messages, but added that the ABC approach made no distinction between the different needs of men and women, and it fails to offer African girls real options that addressed the reality of their daily lives.

It adds that ABC interventions must aim to empower girls and young women by building assertiveness and self-esteem, and through the development of inter-personal communication and leadership skills. They must also ensure that girls and young women participated fully in designing and implementing programmes as a prerequisite to success.

It further says abstinence is unrealistic in an environment where boys are encouraged to be sexually aggressive and girls kept in ignorance about their own sexuality.

Therefore calls for abstinence were meaningless when sexual activity was coerced, or when women and girls felt they could resort to sex as a matter of survival.

It said being faithful only worked if both partners played by the same rules, yet prevailing norms encourage men to have multiple partners while they condemn women to involve themselves in multiple partners.

The report indicates that condom use was invariably a male decision, and many men remain deeply reluctant to use them. It goes on to say that female condoms which can also be used to protect a woman from contracting HIV are neither widely available nor easily accessible.

It is clear from the report that women and girls will need more than the slogans of ABC to survive the scourge of HIV/AIDS. They will need tools to breach the culture of silence that surrounds issues of sexuality that will give the power to resist exploitative and abusive sex.

One of the first imperatives in turning around the HIV/AIDS pandemic is to ensure girls receive the best education possible so that they are able to make informed decisions.

The mere fact of being in school can help protect girls from infection, since girls in school show lower rates of sexual activity compared to the ones who are not.

And a recent regional United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) study on gender, sexuality and HIV/AIDS, reveals that boys and girls urgently need to learn respectful ways of dealing with each other on a basis of equality.

Despite being surrounded by HIV prevention messages, most young people do not consider themselves personally at risk, and have little idea how their bodies and reproductive systems work.

The UN report says educational campaigns have made little effort to differentiate between the informational needs of boys and girls and young girls who are knowledgeable about their own sexuality are stigmatised as "bad girls".

In Zambia, sex remains shrouded in taboos. Most parents still consider discussing sex with their children as "unAfrican", therefore boys and girls remain largely ignorant of the real risks of transmission. These children end up learning about sex from friends or movies, the wrong way however.

In the same study, statistics show that in Zambia, 18 per cent of women who said they were virgins a year before or less before, were HIV positive.

This was so explained by the types of relationships in which girls and boys engage. Girls tend to get involved with one partner, with whom they have regular sex, facilitating HIV transmission through repeated exposure if their partner is HIV-positive.

Young men are wrongly expected to have multiple sexual partners, which disadvantages girls because they instead remain faithful while the man takes round the disease form one girl to the other even to the unsuspecting fidel partner.

And according to UN Secretary-General Koffi Annan, there is need for a real shift in how women are perceived and treated.

He says without normative social change, laws and policies will have limited impact.

He says the report stands as testimony to the hopes and fears of a generation of women and girls.

If we ignore its messages, we will have betrayed them. If we listen, we will have a solid blueprint with which to guide our actions.

If the ABC approach to prevention is to work, messages and slogans alone will not be sufficient.

For these messages to be internalised and acted upon, girls and women will need to have access to a variety of programmes that are rooted in an understanding of the real problems they experience in the home, the family and the community. The key will always be education and communication.

Governments and their partners will do well to ensure that those that are at risk have access to the factual knowledge, the practical skills, and above all the assertiveness and self esteem that will enable them take control of their own lives.

Such initiatives like this suggest what can be accomplished if women and girls were given a voice in their own affairs, and encouraged to deal directly with previously taboo subjects such as HIV, sexuality, contraception and gender inequality.

In his speech when he launched the UN report, then vice-president, Dr Nevers Mumba said unequal gender roles and relations in society has brought about gender imbalance, a situation where women and girls have less capacity to negotiate for safer sex with their partners.

He said 54 per cent of all people living with HIV and AIDS in Zambia were women adding that many girls begin life poor, and by the time they gain an education or were in a position to look after themselves, they would have already contracted HIV.

Dr Mumba noted that involving men in the fight against AIDS was the surest way of curbing the pandemic.

He said men currently held the power to influence societal thinking in most parts of the world, and had a role to play in eliminating inequalities between themselves and women.

"I feel challenged to mention to you that from the bedroom to the boardroom, we men dominate positions of power," said Dr Mumba.

The establishment in 2003, of the Task Force on Women, Girls and HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa brought together men and women from diverse walks of life.

Zambia contributed significantly to this regional process, led by Minister of Health Dr Brian Chituwo and task force members Professor Nkandu Luo, Justice Lombe Chibesakunda and Ms Masuka Mutenda.

From all the efforts that are being made to find the best approach to tackle the HIV/AIDS pandemic, it is best that we pick a leaf or all from the recent studies which aim to give an equal platform for both men and women to discuss preventive ways.