HIV spread at university stretches beyond cross-generational sex
Jan 29, 2009
I LOVE the radio infomercial about the man who made a trip to the university one evening to pick up his young mistress for a night out. She showed up with a friend and when he turned around to greet the friend in the back seat, she happened to be his dau
By Carol Kezaabu
I LOVE the radio infomercial about the man who made a trip to the university one evening to pick up his young mistress for a night out. She showed up with a friend and when he turned around to greet the friend in the back seat, she happened to be his daughter. If that isn’t fate, I do not know what it is.
Recently, I completed my studies at Makerere University and trust me, life at the campus is interesting. People on the outside do not know half the story of what goes on at the university.
For many young people it means no more curfew, but enormous freedom to interact with a member of the opposite sex without any queries.
You can also go out every night, all you need is about sh500 to get into the university halls after the halls have been locked. In some hostels, you can walk in and out as you please.
Life is great for a few weeks but for many students, the pressure to keep up with the high-end lifestyle of the five Cs (chips, chicken, cash, cell phones and cars) becomes too much.
The pocket money a girl gets from her parents can no longer be sufficient and to make matters worse, her boyfriend is as financially incapable as she is. So like a beacon, the perfect solution presents itself.
A friend from high school, a year or two ahead of you, suggests that you ‘push’ her to meet a male friend at a high class restaurant.
The thought of a free fancy meal and drinks is too exciting to pass up, since you can hardly afford a meal of kikomando (chapatti and beans).
At the eat-out, you discover that the friend is an old man, but so what? He has the money. His friend joins you and soon, you are chatting with a man, your dad’s age, but he is quick to say he is not married or his wife passed away.
At the end of the evening, the bill makes your eyes bulge, but the man pulls out a bundle of sh50,000 notes and pays without even raising the eyebrow.
When his friend asks if you would like to ‘hang’ out some other time, all you are seeing is the bundle of money.
At this time, your young, broke boyfriend is the farthest thing on your mind. Before you know it, you are seeing this old man every weekend, lying to your more sensible friends that he is your uncle, and you eventually start sleeping with him.
This trend is what has come to be known as cross generational sex. Population Services International (PSI) defines it as a non-marital sexual relationships between young women and men who are 10 or more years older.
Early last year, PSI-Uganda started a campaign against the act. The media, too, came on board and it soon became the word on everybody’s lips.
To this day, the campaign continues but so does the debate; is the act as big a factor in the spread of HIV among young people, especially at university as is portrayed by the media?
In a survey conducted by PSI-Uganda in 2007 in nine universities, 15.3% of girls (19-24 years) had engaged in sexual relations with men 10 years older and above. About 11% were in a relationship with older men. They also found that young girls were more likely to date older men.
They also discovered that while many girls agree that cross generational sex is a bad practice, they say they do not have a choice because they need money for tuition, rent and food.
Young women are at a high risk of violence, unintended pregnancies and HIV. Women in these relationships have little negotiating power with older men, leading to inconsistent condom use.
But while campaigns against cross-generational sex are spot-on, they overshadow the reason for the increasing rates of HIV infections among university-going students — peer-to-peer sex.
Students are having unprotected sex among themselves. A girl in a clique of about eight girls could be dating a sugar daddy and another younger man among a clique of six boys.
If she contracts HIV from her older lover because he does not want to use condoms, and does the same with her unsuspecting younger boyfriend, she is likely to infect him.
If her younger boyfriend is cheating on her with one of her friends, he infects her too.
So the battle is even tougher than you may have thought.
I LOVE the radio infomercial about the man who made a trip to the university one evening to pick up his young mistress for a night out. She showed up with a friend and when he turned around to greet the friend in the back seat, she happened to be his daughter. If that isn’t fate, I do not know what it is.
Recently, I completed my studies at Makerere University and trust me, life at the campus is interesting. People on the outside do not know half the story of what goes on at the university.
For many young people it means no more curfew, but enormous freedom to interact with a member of the opposite sex without any queries.
You can also go out every night, all you need is about sh500 to get into the university halls after the halls have been locked. In some hostels, you can walk in and out as you please.
Life is great for a few weeks but for many students, the pressure to keep up with the high-end lifestyle of the five Cs (chips, chicken, cash, cell phones and cars) becomes too much.
The pocket money a girl gets from her parents can no longer be sufficient and to make matters worse, her boyfriend is as financially incapable as she is. So like a beacon, the perfect solution presents itself.
A friend from high school, a year or two ahead of you, suggests that you ‘push’ her to meet a male friend at a high class restaurant.
The thought of a free fancy meal and drinks is too exciting to pass up, since you can hardly afford a meal of kikomando (chapatti and beans).
At the eat-out, you discover that the friend is an old man, but so what? He has the money. His friend joins you and soon, you are chatting with a man, your dad’s age, but he is quick to say he is not married or his wife passed away.
At the end of the evening, the bill makes your eyes bulge, but the man pulls out a bundle of sh50,000 notes and pays without even raising the eyebrow.
When his friend asks if you would like to ‘hang’ out some other time, all you are seeing is the bundle of money.
At this time, your young, broke boyfriend is the farthest thing on your mind. Before you know it, you are seeing this old man every weekend, lying to your more sensible friends that he is your uncle, and you eventually start sleeping with him.
This trend is what has come to be known as cross generational sex. Population Services International (PSI) defines it as a non-marital sexual relationships between young women and men who are 10 or more years older.
Early last year, PSI-Uganda started a campaign against the act. The media, too, came on board and it soon became the word on everybody’s lips.
To this day, the campaign continues but so does the debate; is the act as big a factor in the spread of HIV among young people, especially at university as is portrayed by the media?
In a survey conducted by PSI-Uganda in 2007 in nine universities, 15.3% of girls (19-24 years) had engaged in sexual relations with men 10 years older and above. About 11% were in a relationship with older men. They also found that young girls were more likely to date older men.
They also discovered that while many girls agree that cross generational sex is a bad practice, they say they do not have a choice because they need money for tuition, rent and food.
Young women are at a high risk of violence, unintended pregnancies and HIV. Women in these relationships have little negotiating power with older men, leading to inconsistent condom use.
But while campaigns against cross-generational sex are spot-on, they overshadow the reason for the increasing rates of HIV infections among university-going students — peer-to-peer sex.
Students are having unprotected sex among themselves. A girl in a clique of about eight girls could be dating a sugar daddy and another younger man among a clique of six boys.
If she contracts HIV from her older lover because he does not want to use condoms, and does the same with her unsuspecting younger boyfriend, she is likely to infect him.
If her younger boyfriend is cheating on her with one of her friends, he infects her too.
So the battle is even tougher than you may have thought.