1 December 2007
editorial
More than half of people living with HIV/Aids are women. According to this years UNAIDS Aids epidemic update report, in Sub-Saharan Africa women make up 61 percent of those with the virus. Due to such statistics,women have been regarded as the face of the epidemic writes TOM MAGUMBA
She was dragged off the dancing floor where she was dancing with her fellow internally displaced women at a party in Parabongo camp in Gulu District.
Private Denis Omona a UPDF soldier then fired 32 random shots at Ms Beatrice Akio, his girlfriend for allegedly infecting him with HIV/Aids. The bullets damaged her heart and liver so she died instantly.
Omona has since been sentenced to death, but question of who could have infected the other can never be answered. There are many other women who have been lucky to survive death but suffered rejection because of HIV. Some do not have the courage to speak out like Ms Rose Nabirye in Iganga town.
Just days after losing her husband to Aids, the clan members organised a meeting and banished her from the late husband's home. She left the home empty handed for 'killing' their son (her husband) leaving behind her three children.
In 1994, her husband Mr. Cyprian Waiswa left home to do business in Busia, only returning home at the end of the month. He lost his job and came to settle home after a long illness attacked him in 2000 and dragged on until 2003 when he died.
The elders claimed that while he was away, she cheated on him thus infecting their son with HIV/Aids.
"I never thought I would one day be associated with Aids in a personal way because I had been faithful all my life," she says. Her in-laws took a decision "and being a woman could not win judgment over a clan," she said.
She later tested positive but has no idea how they both contracted the virus. She has since remarried a man who is also HIV-positive and who lost his spouse to Aids.
Rose has been under going treatment for the past four years and she is currently running a private business having acquired a loan from a bank.
However she is concerned about the sad reality that the factors that fuel the epidemic such as low income levels, gender disparities and low levels of education, especially among women, do not go away easily and are the main influence over whether people escape or are infected by HIV.
TASO HIV/Aids senior counsellor Ms Maingo Joyce says it is violence and the fear of violence still hinders women's ability to prevent transmission of the virus and compromise their access to services including testing and treatment.
Interestingly, during community training workshops she says it is women who turn up in large numbers eager to learn. Very few men if at all turn up.
"So although women are aware of the danger, they cannot influence their partners who have more say on sex matters," she said.
The November 2007 UNAIDS Aids Epidemic update report notes that unlike other regions in the world, majority of the people 61 percent infected with HIV/Aids are women.
On a positive note the report says there is a significant reduction in the prevalence among young pregnant mothers between 14-24 years attending antenatal clinics.
Just last year (December 2006), a similar update stated, "Women bear a larger part of the Aids burden. Not only are they more likely than men to be infected with HIV but in most African countries they are more likely to be the ones caring for patients with HIV," the report says.
It cited factors such as poverty, gender inequality and social marginalisation putting women and children at great risk of HIV infection.
And in Uganda, several experts on HIV/Aids have repeatedly said that girls are more likely than boys to be uninformed about HIV, to be coerced, raped, or enticed into sex by someone older, stronger, or richer.
Against this, government has embarked on a robust media campaign telling young people to 'say no to sugar daddies', older men taking advantage of young girls in what has been code named cross generational sex.
"This is done undoubtedly by men who could be infected and this brings the
feminisation of the Aids epidemic home very quickly. It is really a catastrophe," says Mr. Moses Eseu a Jinja based HIV/Aids expert and marriage counsellor.
The Director of Ugandan Aids help line Ms Flavia Kyomukama blames it all on some teachings by the church leaders.
Many women are led by faith-based attitudes towards divorce and submission promoted by church groups. They are told to remain in marriages that endanger their health and lives.
"They imagine they are happily married and safe. The church encourages them to be submissive to their husbands and not to question them. What does this mean to a woman whose husband has suddenly re-appeared after a long absence?" she asks.
Kyomukama says many faith-based organisations are doing very good work on HIV/Aids and have made a big difference. But it is not enough. She challenges the churches to come to terms with denial and to do much more, especially towards women who are vulnerable and at risk.
Mrs Maingo says it begins with the parents to empower the girl child from childhood.
Many have played a big role in demeaning the girl child when assigning duties making them feel unequal to the boy. As a result she says they grow up feeling inferior and cannot resist men's dictates.
Uganda's success in significantly reducing HIV/Aids prevalence and new infection rates in the last ten years is a sign of hope in turning the tide of Aids in Africa. For Ms Kyomukama, the only way to change the female face of the epidemic is through empowerment training and education.
It does not have to be academic but empowerment education that builds confidence of women. Mr. Eseu says there should be more on 'Way Forward', a call to stop and examine what has been done in addressing gender inequalities in the light of Aids, and the gaps and strategies for the future should be identified.
Call for abstinence, faithfulness and use of condoms he says are difficult to attain in the Ugandan circumstances where sexual violence is widespread and females are socialised to follow decisions made by males, even when these decisions affect their lives.
Rape and infidelity has been reported, amidst glaring gaps in preventive services such as condoms.
"This trend could change if government criminalises domestic violence because marital rape is costing women their lives," he said.
Even while polygamy, inheritance and property rights at divorce, the once hotly contested issues are fading out Kyomukama says. "Without this law and specific domestic violence legislation, the only 'inheritance' many Ugandan women can anticipate is HIV infection".
Successful country-level efforts have highlighted that with political commitment, sufficient resources, and good information, sexual behaviour can change; for example, men would use condoms.
The 2007 report has emphasised that the battle against HIV/Aids is just beginning. A lot has to be done to position more women in the leadership role to fight the scourge.
Only more efforts like these will keep the face of Aids from becoming increasingly female, young, and poor to avoid brutal attack like that which befell the innocent Beatrice Akio.
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