Your daily Selection of IRIN Africa PlusNews reports, 3/28/2003

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CONTENT:

1 - EAST AFRICA: Feature - Traditional culture spreading HIV/AIDS

1 - EAST AFRICA: Feature - Traditional culture spreading HIV/AIDS

ARUSHA, 28 March (PLUSNEWS) - Elements of traditional culture and

subservient female roles in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania are pushing

HIV/AIDS infection rates up to unprecedented levels, experts said this

week.

In Tanzania, as is generally the case for sub-Saharan Africa, there are

about 1.5 women for every male living with HIV/AIDS, Leoni Msimbe, a

director from Tanzania's Ministry of Community Development, Gender and

Children in Tanzania, told a workshop in Arusha, Tanzania.

While this proportion may be somewhat exaggerated by the fact that more

data is available on women due to routine antenatal tests, it is widely

accepted that women and young girls are increasingly vulnerable to

infection.

Hilde Basstanie of UNAIDS said that girls between 15 and 19 in the region

were now six times more likely to be HIV-positive than boys in the same

age bracket, often as a result of rape, coercion or sex with older men.

While biology plays a significant role in the high rates of transmission

(females are twice as likely as males to be infected during unprotected

sex), man-made socio-political factors are adding plenty of fuel to the

fire.

UNEQUAL STATUS

Patriarchal culture in the region has heavily influenced the legal

systems, governance structures and value systems that uphold the unequal

status of girls and women.

A number of commonly observed traditional practices are now recognised as

being directly responsible for the spread of HIV/AIDS. Widow inheritance,

widow " cleansing " , wife sharing, wife exchanging with land or cattle, and

polygamy are some of the key ones, which are stacked against women's

health because the parties involved do not test for HIV.

Female and male circumcision are still practised in the traditional way,

using the same knives or blades. In the case of females, circumcision can

also lead to bleeding during sex.

Aside from these traditional practices are the social norms which dictate

that females defer to males. " Male youth have been cultured to believe it

is a sign of manhood to be able to control relationships. Females are

brought up to believe that males are superior in all spheres of life and

should be the masters of sexual relationships, " said Ambrose Rachier of

the Kenya Ethical and Legal Network.

" The rigid implementation of traditional practices such as dowry payments

make women men's property, " he noted.

SEXUAL SUBSERVIENCE

While men are encouraged to be promiscuous - including within marriage -

women are often expected to remain " pure " . Furthermore, low levels of

education among girls and women, due to being pulled out of school early

to perform household duties or care for sick relatives, mean they cannot

access HIV information.

" Young women are kept ignorant about sex - this is viewed as a sign of

innocence, " said Dr Orege, Deputy Director of the National AIDS

Control Council (NACC) in Kenya.

This in turn makes them totally unprepared for sexual relations, and

equally unable to negotiate for safe sex.

" Women are at risk because of a lack of power to determine when, where and

whether sex takes place, " added Bukuluki of UNESCO.

There is growing evidence that a large number of new cases of infection is

due to violence in homes, schools, the workplace and other social centres,

such as churches or while collecting water.

USE OF CONDOMS

Female condoms have been found to be inappropriate and inadequate in the

context and culture of East Africa, and have been largely unsuccessful in

providing protection for women.

The Ugandan Ministry of Health purchased 1.2 million female condoms but

found that women were not familiar enough with their anatomies to use

them, said Vashta Kibirige of the Ugandan Ministry of Health. " Culturally,

women are brought up not to touch any of their private parts. "

The condoms were also beyond the reach of most women, costing up to 10

times as much as the male condom.

Aside from both men and women's reluctance to wear condoms within the

context of marriage, in cultures where the value of women is dependent on

their ability to reproduce, they are compelled to have unprotected sex,

placing themselves and their babies at risk.

Up to 80 percent of infections among women occurred in " stable

relationships " where the man had become infected elsewhere, Orege of the

Kenyan National AIDS Control Council pointed out.

Indeed, one of the key findings of the Arusha workshop was that sex

workers were often better able to protect themselves than housewives

because they were more empowered to insist on safe sex.

POVERTY AND STIGMA

Widespread poverty and unemployment compound the status quo by forcing

women and girls to engage in risky sex with all sort of people, including

their partners and husbands.

Most women who are HIV positive are poor and are rejected by their

husbands and families, and therefore cannot afford medicine. In some cases

women are forced to take HIV tests by their husbands or families,

sometimes without their knowledge, and are then rejected.

Flavia Kyomukama of Uganda's National Community of Women Living with

HIV/AIDS said her husband had rejected her after 12 years of marriage, and

forcibly separated her from her children.

" My case was assigned to a lady at the Human Rights Commission in Kampala.

She, without my consent, closed my file because she was under pressure

from my husband's friends to save my husband's dignity and job. "

" My husband took all our savings and investments, " she added. Inadequate

and corrupt legal systems in the region, and a lack of political will to

" interfere " in family matters mean that women often lose everything they

own.

" HIV and poverty are mutually reinforcing - HIV pushes people into

poverty, " said Uganda's Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development,

Zoe Bakoko-Bakoru. Similarly, poverty places people at the mercy of HIV by

forcing them to take risks.

WAY FORWARD

While Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda all have national frameworks to deal with

HIV/AIDS, there is a consensus that more needs to be done to prioritise

women's issues. " My gut feeling is that we haven't done enough when it

comes to implementing gender balance, " said Herman Lupogo of Tanzania's

Commission for AIDS.

Bills that are drafted tend not to adequately address women's issues -

such as the Kenya National Strategy on HIV/AIDS - which have to be added

later on as an " afterthought " .

Experts say more needs to be done to protect women's rights by legalising

the sex industry, criminalising marital rape and wilful infection, and

imposing heavier penalties on rapists. In addition, laws protecting human

rights need to be harmonised to ensure basic protection.

In Kenya - in the field of family and land laws - Islamic law, Hindu law,

customary and statutory laws were " all working against each other, "

Rachier told PlusNews.

Yet, the political will for change is lacking. Bills that might improve

women's lot are not being passed or even debated because a male dominated

parliament simply wouldn't accept them, Rachier said. In the areas of

polygamy, FGM, wife inheritance and wife sharing, which are " widespread

and deeply rooted " , he said it was not possible to introduce legislation

in Kenya.

" A sizeable proportion of the Kenyan population is poligamously married.

We therefore did not think it prudent to declare such unions either in the

present or in the future illegal, " he said.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

This week, the three countries' National AIDS Councils/Commissions, UN

agencies, NGOs and people living with HIV/AIDS issued a statement saying

that " the centrality of culture " must be addressed more rigorously in each

of the countries, recognising that culture " needs to transform " if the

pandemic is to be halted. They also agreed to strengthen gender and

HIV/AIDS policies and to share best practices between the three countries.

The consensus is that community-based education, which includes cultural

and traditional leaders, is the only means to secure behavioural change.

But with so many different communities and languages in each of the

countries, initiatives needs to be tailor-made to each area.

Therein lies the challenge, which without adequate resources is impossible

to achieve. Meanwhile, and for as long as the status quo remains, more and

more women and girls will continue to lose their lives.

[ENDS]

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