Gender-Based Violence And HIV/Aids - Establishing the Link?

January 9, 2005 - (Zimbabwe Standard Harare) GENDER-based violence has often been understood as a private or domestic problem, which cannot be discussed in public.

Many a woman has normalized the problem to the extent of accepting at it as justifiable. Statistics show that one in four women in Zimbabwe report having experienced sexual violence by an intimate partner.

Against this background, Southern Africa HIV/Aids Information Dissemination Service (SAfAIDS) recently joined other organizations in Zimbabwe in commemorating the 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence, a period that is observed from 25 November to the 10 December every year.

Lois Lunga, the executive director for SAfAIDS, said: "The linkage between HIV/Aids and gender based violence have often been given very little attention. This is despite the fact that most women that are often physically abused tend to end up HIV/Aids positive as well, because they lack the power to negotiate safe sex, insist on protected sex or discourage their husbands from having multiple sexual partners."

Women who are HIV positive tend to be subjected to physical, economic and emotional abuse, particularly at the time of disclosing their HIV results. It is important to note that these two scourges are worse when they affect an individual. Therefore, there is need to tackle the two challenges together. Current programmes continue to exist in a parallel manner.

Lunga added: "As SAfAIDS, we are promoting an integrated approach in which HIV is mainstreamed into gender based violence and vice versa so that we can adequately meet the needs of the woman who is HIV positive and is vulnerable to gender based violence."

A challenge in Zimbabwe is that laws and policies were designed in a parallel fashion where a law that protects a woman against violence cannot necessarily be used to redress issues of vulnerability to HIV/Aids.

The result of this situation is that the same woman would have to go to court several times before she can get any protection. In some instances, the laws are not even adequate to give the woman the protection she needs.

Rouzeh Eghtessadi, SAfAIDS senior programmes officer for gender and human rights, identified gender-based violence as a major cause for the increases of HIV and AIDS incidences in women and a key limitation to women's full participation in society.

She noted that due to some financial problems and lack of opportunities to further her education, the girl child has turned to inter-generational sex for survival. This accounts for the high HIV prevalence rate among females aged 15 to 24 as compared to their male counterparts.

Eghtessadi added that the 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence presents an opportunity for information sharing on the linkages between gender-based violence and HIV/Aids and should stimulate an ongoing advocacy around these issues.

During the 16 days, SAfAIDS joined hands with other lobby groups to advocate for increased awareness of the shortcoming of continuing to view HIV/Aids and gender based violence as two separate problems. All men were encouraged to despise those who endanger the lives of women and girls by exposing them to violence.

From: http://allafrica.com/stories/200501100507.html