HIV/AIDS- Social involvement will curb rising infections
Jul 05, 2009
JANE Wambui is a 17-year old student at Buruburu High School, Nairobi. She is a virgin and is HIV-positive. She was born with the HIV virus. Wambui says abstinence does not mean anything to her, since she already has the virus.
By Elvis Basudde
JANE Wambui is a 17-year old student at Buruburu High School, Nairobi. She is a virgin and is HIV-positive. She was born with the HIV virus. Wambui says abstinence does not mean anything to her, since she already has the virus.
There are many young people who are sexually active and are HIV-positive. Asking them to use the ABC strategy may not yield results.
With evidence of increasing new HIV infection, the world may be failing to stem the epidemic, which has evolved significantly, even though prevention messages and target groups of the previous years have not changed at the same pace.
Review the message
The Abstinence, Be Faithful and Condom Use (ABC) strategy has been highly emphasised as a control for
HIV/AIDS resulting in sexual behaviour change as shown by declines in casual sex and multiple sexual relationships.
However, according to experts, messages on abstinence and condom use do not have any practical promise because they do not address the needs of all people.
Abstinence messages are not appropriate for married people while messages on cross-generational sex are not comprehensive.
A lot has changed in the last few years and the epidemic has evolved into a heterogeneous one with different transmission dynamics.
Evidence available indicates that there is a rise in HIV/AIDS prevalence. Although there are reduced deaths due to ARVs, it is also likely that the prevalence is rising because of new infections.
Over 8,000 people worldwide die of HIV/AIDS daily. UNAIDS estimates that 33 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, including 2.5 million children, showing that the epidemic is increasing.
In 2007, 2.5 million people were living with the virus. A total of 95% of them live in developing nations. HIV/AIDS has gone to a new phase which we all need to recognise.
A call to social action
It is against this background that a wide range of stakeholders recently went into partnership to launch the first ever Global Citizen’s Summit for social mobilisation to end HIV/AIDS.
The conference was held in Nairobi recently with the theme “Mobilise the Nation, Treat the Nations and Stop HIV Infection.†It brought together communities and frontline practitioners from all parts of the world, including commissioners.
Its aim was to create a drive for universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support through scaling up social mobilisation.
Participants appreciated the meeting, saying a platform for frontline citizens involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS to articulate their concerns has constantly reduced.
These conferences, they said, were often dominated by lobbyists without any genuine concern and interest for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) and the ever-sprouting NGOs that were often formed to cash-in on HIV/AIDS money.
The deputy director of UNAIDS from Geneva, Dr. El Hajj As Sy, described the deliberations and outcomes from the summit as innovative, bold and audacious.
He challenged governments and donors to prioritise and invest resources in areas where they can make a big impact. He particularly urged governments and donors to provide incentives for universal testing.
He also asked that countries remove bad laws that keep people living with HIV/AIDS underground. The permanent secretary in the Kenyan ministry of health, Mark Bor, said while progress has been recorded in many areas in the fight against HIV/AIDS, we are far from winning. More resources and efforts from all partners are needed.
Social mobilisation is seen as one of the best alternatives in reaching out to communities and going beyond time bound projects in order to get desired impact.
“The HIV/AIDS response is at a phase where it must be driven by the locals, short of that, the global financial crisis and other global issues coming up may take up resources that the HIV/ AIDS response could have used and the fight will be in vain,†Leonard Okello, from ActionAid, said.
“The global HIV/AIDS response must seriously reflect on existing practices as well as alternatives, especially in comprehensively curbing an epidemic that has been challenging broader development dynamics and demanding a combined response from different corners,†he said.
Only 10% of people living with HIV/AIDS actually know their status. This is an unacceptable verdict on the global AIDS response that requires a ‘business unusual’ approach to step up testing, Okello says.
Key influential institutions; including traditional leaders and structures, religious leaders, broader social movement groups, women leaders, youths, student activists and political leaders representing their multi-sectoral constituencies, must rethink their action plans and adopt a new and radical approach.
Radical approach
There must a departure from the ‘business as usual’ approach to stop new infections. Participants at the conference used participatory approaches, multi-sectoral mobilisation and other methods of social mobilisation to share experiences that have proven to have results for community and social mobilisation to AIDS.
They explored radical options to mobilise, test and treat communities to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.
ActionAid launched a global movement called STAR (Societies Tackling AIDS through Rights) approach for social mobilisation. PANOS and Health Link Worldwide also shared participatory communication approaches for social mobilisation.
The conference resolved to institute a new impetus for demanding the right to universal access to prevention, treatment, care and support to end the spread of HIV/AIDS and a social movement of change agents for social mobilisation and action.
JANE Wambui is a 17-year old student at Buruburu High School, Nairobi. She is a virgin and is HIV-positive. She was born with the HIV virus. Wambui says abstinence does not mean anything to her, since she already has the virus.
There are many young people who are sexually active and are HIV-positive. Asking them to use the ABC strategy may not yield results.
With evidence of increasing new HIV infection, the world may be failing to stem the epidemic, which has evolved significantly, even though prevention messages and target groups of the previous years have not changed at the same pace.
Review the message
The Abstinence, Be Faithful and Condom Use (ABC) strategy has been highly emphasised as a control for
HIV/AIDS resulting in sexual behaviour change as shown by declines in casual sex and multiple sexual relationships.
However, according to experts, messages on abstinence and condom use do not have any practical promise because they do not address the needs of all people.
Abstinence messages are not appropriate for married people while messages on cross-generational sex are not comprehensive.
A lot has changed in the last few years and the epidemic has evolved into a heterogeneous one with different transmission dynamics.
Evidence available indicates that there is a rise in HIV/AIDS prevalence. Although there are reduced deaths due to ARVs, it is also likely that the prevalence is rising because of new infections.
Over 8,000 people worldwide die of HIV/AIDS daily. UNAIDS estimates that 33 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, including 2.5 million children, showing that the epidemic is increasing.
In 2007, 2.5 million people were living with the virus. A total of 95% of them live in developing nations. HIV/AIDS has gone to a new phase which we all need to recognise.
A call to social action
It is against this background that a wide range of stakeholders recently went into partnership to launch the first ever Global Citizen’s Summit for social mobilisation to end HIV/AIDS.
The conference was held in Nairobi recently with the theme “Mobilise the Nation, Treat the Nations and Stop HIV Infection.†It brought together communities and frontline practitioners from all parts of the world, including commissioners.
Its aim was to create a drive for universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support through scaling up social mobilisation.
Participants appreciated the meeting, saying a platform for frontline citizens involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS to articulate their concerns has constantly reduced.
These conferences, they said, were often dominated by lobbyists without any genuine concern and interest for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) and the ever-sprouting NGOs that were often formed to cash-in on HIV/AIDS money.
The deputy director of UNAIDS from Geneva, Dr. El Hajj As Sy, described the deliberations and outcomes from the summit as innovative, bold and audacious.
He challenged governments and donors to prioritise and invest resources in areas where they can make a big impact. He particularly urged governments and donors to provide incentives for universal testing.
He also asked that countries remove bad laws that keep people living with HIV/AIDS underground. The permanent secretary in the Kenyan ministry of health, Mark Bor, said while progress has been recorded in many areas in the fight against HIV/AIDS, we are far from winning. More resources and efforts from all partners are needed.
Social mobilisation is seen as one of the best alternatives in reaching out to communities and going beyond time bound projects in order to get desired impact.
“The HIV/AIDS response is at a phase where it must be driven by the locals, short of that, the global financial crisis and other global issues coming up may take up resources that the HIV/ AIDS response could have used and the fight will be in vain,†Leonard Okello, from ActionAid, said.
“The global HIV/AIDS response must seriously reflect on existing practices as well as alternatives, especially in comprehensively curbing an epidemic that has been challenging broader development dynamics and demanding a combined response from different corners,†he said.
Only 10% of people living with HIV/AIDS actually know their status. This is an unacceptable verdict on the global AIDS response that requires a ‘business unusual’ approach to step up testing, Okello says.
Key influential institutions; including traditional leaders and structures, religious leaders, broader social movement groups, women leaders, youths, student activists and political leaders representing their multi-sectoral constituencies, must rethink their action plans and adopt a new and radical approach.
Radical approach
There must a departure from the ‘business as usual’ approach to stop new infections. Participants at the conference used participatory approaches, multi-sectoral mobilisation and other methods of social mobilisation to share experiences that have proven to have results for community and social mobilisation to AIDS.
They explored radical options to mobilise, test and treat communities to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.
ActionAid launched a global movement called STAR (Societies Tackling AIDS through Rights) approach for social mobilisation. PANOS and Health Link Worldwide also shared participatory communication approaches for social mobilisation.
The conference resolved to institute a new impetus for demanding the right to universal access to prevention, treatment, care and support to end the spread of HIV/AIDS and a social movement of change agents for social mobilisation and action.