Knowledge is Power
The International HIV Fund explain how they are trying to change people's attitutes to HIV in Africa.
HIV is commonly seen as a medical problem; a virus that shreds the body’s immune system leaving it more susceptible to the contraction of other potentially life threatening diseases and can ultimately lead to AIDS.
Lifestyle choices such as having unprotected sex and injected drug use are the most common routes to contracting HIV. Looking at it from this angle gives the fight against HIV a new perspective, and different tools and approaches need to be employed to encourage a culture shift.
Sub-Saharan Africa has seen the fastest and largest spread of HIV seen the discovery of the epidemic in the 1980’s 1. According to AVERT it is estimated that:
- There are 22 million suffers of HIV in Africa
- There are over 11 million orphans due to HIV2
Such stark statistics have encouraged HIV-related organisations to take a different approach and try and tackle HIV by changing people’s hearts and minds through education and information. One of these organisations is the International HIV Fund.
Hearts and minds in Niger
Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rate of HIV infection with over 20 million adults and children living with HIV and millions more at risk of infection.
A project in Niger run by the International HIV Fund is targeting women who are economically and socially disempowered and fall into the high risk category of contracting HIV, and educating them about HIV and the preventing the spread of the virus.
Women in Niger have been identified as a high priority target group3 to be educated about HIV and AIDS as they are widely discriminated against despite an anti discrimination law in country which guarantees the right to health care, employment, social security, education, health insurance and freedom of movement to all individuals affected by HIV. Sadly the law is weakly enforced.
Women are often forced to turn to prostitution due to poverty, and there is also the risk of mother-to-baby transmission during pregnancy. Women entering prostitution as a means of survival have limited power when it comes to entering sexual relations with a client, leading to possible infection from forced unprotected sex.
The International HIV Fund is working to empower these and other women with information on how to safeguard themselves from infection and how to prevent passing on the virus to others alongside teaching tangible skills such as sewing to ensure that women don’t have to turn to prostitution as a means of income.
A religious taboo
Much is known and reported about the Catholic Church and their views on HIV, although they recently approved4 the use of condoms if it was to prevent transmission of the virus. They have gone on record criticising the use of contraception, which was recently retracted. With the population of Africa close to 45 per cent Muslim5, not nearly enough noise is coming from Muslim communities about combating HIV. This is due to the religious taboo and stigma surrounding drug use and fornication and their regression from Islamic beliefs and teachings which teach Muslims to abstain from harmful substances such as drugs and refrain from extra martial sex and homosexual relations.
A 2007 conference on Islam and HIV was held in Johannesburg, South Africa with the participation of Muslim-led NGOs from Africa and Asia, Muslim scholars, academics, representatives from UNAIDS and major world governments and people living with HIV. They all agreed that Muslims need to look beyond the taboos and prejudice and pledged to increase the contribution of their respective organisations in combating HIV.
This led to the creation of the International HIV Fund which is working to build and improve relations between different organisations working to eradicate HIV. Collaborating with other NGO’s in the field, governments and religious organisations is essential in the fight against HIV. Different organisations have different levels of resources or access to communities and so by working together and breaking down the barriers between race and religion, and focussing on what we have in common, will eventually gain the upper hand in the battle with HIV.
Footnote
- www.aidsinafrica.net/people_charts.php
- www.avert.org/africa-hiv-aids-statistics.htm
- www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportID=85782
- www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5hZTvvwiNGXYI6eXGr48mbhsnpzTg?docId=N0225901290512518757A
- Encyclopedia Britannica. Britannica Book of the Year 2003. Encyclopedia Britannica, (2003) ISBN 978-0-85229-956-2 p.306
