HIV
HIV News
Women and HIV
With 8 March being International Women’s Day, it is an opportunity to look at the effects of HIV in a region that has the most women who are HIV+. In sub-Saharan Africa, 57 per cent of adults with HIV are women, and young women aged 15 to 24 are more than three times as likely to be infected as young men.
In much of the world, HIV has for a long time been seen as a problem that affects men, specifically gay men, and as a result of this preconception, the harm that it does to women around the world has been largely overlooked. Yet today nearly half of all adults living with HIV around the world are women.
For women with HIV, the biggest issues are how to optimise their health and prevent disease progression, as is true for men. However, two thirds of women with HIV were infected by heterosexual contact, and many did not know they were at risk. They may be more likely than men to feel ashamed and want to maintain absolute confidentiality about their HIV infection. This makes them feel very alone and isolated. In addition, women are far more likely to be the primary or only source of support and care for children. For many women with HIV, maintaining their health until their children reach adulthood is their first concern.
The long-term impact of HIV infection upon the family is also a major issue. The multiple roles that women play often make it hard for them to care for themselves, since as caregivers they are always caring for everyone else.
‘The biggest issue that women with HIV face is how many issues they face. The medical and psychosocial after effects of HIV and other associated infections and complications can be quite devastating. Managing their medication regimens, managing their jobs and families, worrying about transmission to others, recovering from difficulties during disclosure and managing other medical and gynaecologic problems are all major issues for women with HIV.’
For women, there are greater chances of infection - Information drawn from different studies shows that during heterosexual sex, women are about twice as likely to become infected with HIV from men as men are from women. This is a major reason why women have caught up so rapidly with men when it comes to figures for the numbers of HIV+ people.
It is more difficult for women to protect themselves. There still exist major inequalities between women and men in all aspects of living - from employment opportunities, availability of education, and choices in relationships. Many countries still have patriarchal rules governing women's place in sexual relationships. In some societies, women are unable to choose their sexual partners or who they marry. These choices are made for them by men in their families. In situations where the man has all the power, a woman is unlikely to be able to insist on the use of condoms, or to take measures to protect herself from HIV.
In many countries, women still have very narrow career options available to them, and often these are limited to the prescribed roles of teachers, nurses or carers. These roles, however, are crucial ones in all societies. A country which loses a large number of nurses will have great difficulty in keeping its medical services running. A country which loses many teachers will find it hard to educate the young. Both healthcare and education are absolutely vital anywhere where there is a severe AIDS epidemic.
The multiple roles women fill in society are very important ones. Women, as bearers of and carers for children are crucial to social and family structure. In many countries women play a vital place in the workforce in addition to caring for their families. The loss of a mother can be devastating to a family, often depriving them of a key breadwinner and depriving children of a vital carer and teacher.
In many countries, especially less socially stable regions, there is a greater likelihood of women's first sex being forced or in some way coerced. Rape can be a devastating experience for any woman, and can also carry the risk of HIV infection. Sexual violence against women is more common in some parts of the world than in others. South Africa, for example, has one of the highest rates of sexual violence, coupled with a huge HIV prevalence
"I'm a 31 year old heterosexual female that contracted AIDS as the result of rape. I repressed the events surrounding the attack until I had undergone hypnotherapy . . . It had been nearly two years since the rape and I had been HIV positive without knowing it".
Enya
AIDS is also increasingly being used as a weapon in war and a tool of 'ethnic cleansing'. In parts of the world where there is a very poor security situation - Uganda, for example, and the Sudan, and Zimbabwe, there are growing numbers of reports of women being raped with the intention of deliberately infecting them with HIV. HIV infection is a weapon which can still have devastating effects long after a war is over.
Addressing the balance - Gender roles around the world, pin women into positions where they lack the power to protect themselves from HIV infection and where, if they are infected, they lack opportunities to receive treatment. Negative assumptions about women's roles and discrimination against them must be challenged and women must be empowered to help themselves and to protect themselves.
Women who have been raped need to have access to post-exposure prophylaxis - medical techniques which can reduce the chances of HIV infection if the victim of a rape is treated quickly. In many, mainly African countries with high levels of sexual violence against women and high HIV prevalence, this treatment is not freely available to women. Protecting women from HIV is not solely women's responsibility. Most HIV+ women were infected by unprotected sex with an infected man. Preventing infection is the responsibility of both partners, and men must play an equal role in this.
Unaids;actionaid;
www.positivelywomen.org.uk www.avert.org/womstory.htm www.icw.org/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4032699.stm www.unfpa.org/hiv/women/report/