Thursday, April 14, 2011
HIV prevention in South Africa
Okay Ladies, sorry about the late post. I didn't realize it was my week to go. That being said, I was really interested by this week's discussion of the HIV/AIDS issue in Africa and more specifically, the ads and campaign to stop the spread of the disease. I know we have spent a good deal of time addressing pieces of this issue this semester, but I feel like there are still aspects to be discussed. For example, I came across a website for the promotion of HIV awareness in Africa, which had a great deal of information available. This website thouroughly discusses the causes of HIV and lists the great number of issues preventing awareness and education in Africa, including lack of availability, shame, social pressures, and specifically lack of agency in women. The website suggests that 59% of women in Sub-Saharan Africa are living with HIV or AIDS and further suggests that a good deal of this is caused by the women's distinct lack of agency within their communities and more importantly sexual lives. The website goes on to talk about the methods of AIDS education and awareness that the countries are attempting to instate, such as the ones we viewed in class, and discusses their relative successes and failures. The most interesting thing to me within the information the website gave was in the section about how to help women and girls in Africa. This section spoke of recent attempts by doctors to create a microbicide, which would be a cream or gel which can be applied to the vagina, which will block or stave off any potential HIV infection. It was suggested that this could be a possible way to get around the agency issue. What do you think of this idea? If they manage to create this microbicide, do you think that it will significantly help in the decrease of HIV in Africa, or do you think that the issues of education, availability, and agency will continue to keep this from being a viable combattant to the disease? ~Megan Moore~
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I forgot to give you guys the website I used:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.avert.org/hiv-aids-africa.htm
This is a really good article you found and very pertinent as well! I think that some of the reasons why some women in Africa, as well as around the globe, dont have agency is because of a patriarchal society where men are the dominant group, viewing women as sexual objects as well as their subordinants. The spread of HIV/AIDS can definitly have a great deal to do with this. Women are raped, forced to have intercourse with husband, and or persuaded by men to have sex with them, usually having no choice in the matter. If women had these creams that they could apply I believe it would be very helpful because it gives them a little bit of agency so that they can at least prevent the spread of HIV to them if they are forced to have sex or want to on their own terms. If the cream is effective, I think it will slow the spreading of HIV/AIDS. The only downfall to this can be people beginning to depend on this cream and no other protection like condoms. If the cream is expensive, then yes it will be hard for many to have access to it, education should also follow,as well as allowing the women to have agency in their lives. Overall, this will be a great idea as long as the cream is effective, inexpensive, and available to the general public easily.
ReplyDeletecomment above by Seqwinya
ReplyDeleteThis is really interesting! It sounds like a fantastic idea. It seems like a very smart and pro-active way to slow the spread of HIV/AIDS. I just hope, like Seqwinya, that it will be available to everyone. That it will be available in places that have high rates of HIV as well as places that have lower rates of it. It is important that it be available to EVERYONE. Also, I have a feeling it isn't going to be very inexpensive which means it's going to be difficult, even if it is available everywhere, for people to afford it. As far as agency in women and their sex lives, I think this is something that needs to start in the schools. Actually, it needs to start in the homes, but as we have seen with sex education, that just isn't happening. My mother would NEVER speak to me about me taking control of my own sex life. It would be unheard of. And knowing that I'm not the only girl that grew up this way, I think that these things need to be taught in schools. Girls, from a young age, need to be taught that they have a say in what happens to their bodies and they have a right to say yes or no to sex. It simply isn't talked about. And when we all grow up surrounded by men who are running our country and men who are running our big businesses and men who are acting like they have a right to a woman's body without her permission, it gets sort of overwhelming to even think about trying to stand up to these men. So when it comes to sex, girls are submissive and they allow the man to make the decisions about what happens with contraception and protection against these diseases. We need more advocacy for females from a young age to teach these girls and women that they need to be the ones making decisions about their body, not leaving it up to men. This cream is a step in the right direction. I just hope that it is something that women don't have to dream about being able to use, but something that is made affordable and available.
ReplyDelete-Rachel Mitts
ReplyDeleteThis article and idea is very interesting. I believe that the idea is a good one. Not only does it provide health safety but it can also be seen as an agent of control. As Seqwinya mentioned many women in the regions of Africa have been victims of unwilling sexual objects and are strongly influenced by African authoritative knowledge. Women are viewed as means of reproduction and in many African regions are useless for anything else. Such a cream will help them to view themselves as protected against a disease that is very prevalent in their populations. Such a microbicide, if it displays efficacy, could potentially help decrease the rates of HIV in Africa IF appropriately used and IF it is available to everyone especially target groups whose rates are very high. With that being said availability will be a big determinate of whether it will be beneficial or not. Education will also need to be a big component of ending this epidemic.
ReplyDelete-Tiffany Williamson
Great article. I think that if they manage to create this microbicide, it will not significantly help in the decrease of HIV in Africa. I think it would cost money that people couldn’t afford in Africa. I agree that the issues of education, availability, and agency will continue to keep this from being a viable combatant to the disease. If people are more educated, have more availability to products, and somewhere to go to learn of receive protection, it will help decrease HIV in Africa. I also believe that agency is hard to find in Africa and with that the numbers would decrease. I found it interesting also about the cream or gel and would like to know more about it, but I don’t think without agency many women in Africa would be able to receive this medication.
ReplyDeleteMolly Ewigman