by Lucy Stackpool-Moore
(part two can be read here)
Six million fewer people are living with HIV than was estimated in 2006. But beyond the numbers, the individual stories of survival, of despair, of compassion and of caring for others in times of immense hardship remain unchanged. Programme and policy responses need to listen to these stories and respond to these realities just as much as the statistics.
Listening to the voices of people who are at the heart of the epidemic-those living with HIV, their carers, families and support networks-is essential for really understanding the dynamics and local realities of the epidemic.
Gender violence and HIV
In sub-Saharan Africa, even the reduced UNAIDS figures estimate that 61 percent of adults living with HIV in 2007 are women. Various biological reasons have been identified as to why women are more likely to contract HIV than men, but emphasis has rightly focused on cultural, social and economic inequalities that make women more vulnerable.
South Africa for example is the country with the largest number of people living with HIV in the world (UNAIDS 2007). It also has one of the highest rates of violence against women for a country not at war (Wood and Jewkes, 1997). A South African review identified three links between gender violence and the likelihood of contracting HIV (Maman et al. 2000):
(1) through forced or coercive sexual intercourse (such as rape)
(2) power inequalities that limit women's ability to negotiate safer sex (such as using condoms)
(3) established patterns of sexual risk that develop during childhood and adolescence (such as transactional sex or concurrent sex with multiple partners)
These factors are acute in South Africa but are in fact true for all societies where there are cultural, social and economic inequalities between women and men. To effectively confront HIV it is essential to tackle the underlying inequalities on which it thrives.
Lucy Stackpool-Moore is Programme Officer for Panos
Listening to the voices of women who have experienced gender violence, or who are living with HIV, and their partners, is pivotal. It can not only provide ‘expert' information and direct people to appropriate sources of support, but also challenge the underlying gender and power inequalities through the process of speaking out.
"They should put on people living with HIV [on the radio] ... I am sure that if men start hearing women on the radio talking about their experiences, they will start to understand why they need not to be violent against women."
(Member of the International Community of Women living with HIV (ICW), Namibia)
Giving voice
The question, then, is how can people speak out and challenge inequalities that are reinforced every day by current and historical constructions of gender, racism and social exclusion? Social change is complex, as is HIV, as are the gendered lives and identities of people it affects.
Promoting conversations between friends, lovers, families and peers can catalyse dialogue about topics that are stigmatised or taboo and can facilitate the sharing of information and ideas. These conversations can make people think and challenge personal beliefs. The process of speaking out can give voice and visibility to people otherwise on the margins, and as such communication can contribute to processes of social change. To be effective, communication does not just mean providing more information- it means giving ‘voice'.
[part two to be published tomorrow]
