Women and HIV/AIDS

This issue of The Soul Beat focuses on communication experiences and publications form the Soul Beat Africa network about HIV/AIDS and women. If you have information to contribute, please e-mail Anja Venth aventh@comminit.com

Know someone who has programmes and information to share? Please forward this newsletter, so that we can include their work!

PROMOTING AWARENESS

1. Enlightenment for Women on Female Condom Use - Nigeria

The Female Condom programme is a collaborative effort of Access for Teenagers and the Yoruba Women for Peace Movement. The programme is aimed at lowering the spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases and creating awareness for the use of the female condom through workshops, seminars, outreach, trainings, and the distribution of IEC materials. They also distribute samples of the female condom.

Contact Damilare Agoro accessforteenagers@yahoo.com

2. Men As Partners in HIV Prevention (MAP) - South Africa

Based on research on men's knowledge of attitudes towards various health practices the Planned Parenthood Association of South Africa (PPASA) and AVSC International identified that addressing gender issues and problems of violence against women are critical to improving the reproductive health of both men and women in South Africa. An outreach education project has been developed to provide information, training and discussion opportunities around gender issues, violence prevention, and various reproductive health concerns, particularly HIV transmission.

3. Impact of Mass Media Campaigns on Intentions To Use The Female Condom in Tanzania

by Sohail Agha and Ronan Van Rossem

Mass media campaigns have been used in social marketing programmes designed to prevent HIV infection by changing sexual behaviour. The authors state that more information is needed about the effectiveness of these campaigns and the mechanisms through which they influence behaviour. Data on 2,712 sexually active men and women in Tanzania, collected in an exit survey at outlets that sell the female condom, were used to determine whether a mass media campaign implemented in 1999 via radio and newspapers promoting the female condom had an impact on women's and men's intentions to use this method.

4. Positive Women: Voices and Choices

by Rayah Feldman, Jo Mancheste and Caroline Maposhere
This project aims to document the reproductive and sexual health experiences of HIV positive women to provide information that HIV positive women and AIDS service organisation could use in advocacy for changes in policies and practices that would improve the reproductive and sexual health choices available to women living with HIV and AIDS. This report presents the findings from Zimbabwe.

RIGHTS & COMMUNICATION INTERVENTIONS

5. Saying 'No' To Sex - A Women's Right

By Jennifer Bakyawa

his article explores the issue of the relationship between women's rights and communication campaigns. The author uses the Ugandan example of the ABC - Abstain, Be Faithful, Condom Use - "one of sub-Saharan Africa's rare success stories in the fight against AIDS." The author proposes that although the ABC message is catchy, it does not necessarily protect married women. Tens of thousands of Ugandan women have died from AIDS, the majority of them monogamous wives infected by husbands.

6. Women's Health and Human Rights in HIV Prevention Research

by Daniel W Fitzgerald, Frieda M-T Behets

The research proposes that due to the prevalence of violence against women, during studies with women of reproductive age, a substantial proportion of interviewees are undergoing physical and sexual abuse. Female research subjects may develop trusting relationships with researchers and share information about their abuse. The question arises: what is the obligation of a researcher when the interviewee discloses that her life is in danger because of physical or sexual violence?

7. HIV/AIDS, Human Rights and Women in Nigeria

"Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, bears 10% of the African burden of 28 million out of about 37 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide. A growing concern is the disproportionate increase in the number of women living with HIV/AIDS in Africa. This monograph critically examines factors that contribute to the vulnerability of women to HIV infection under the patriarchal system in Africa, with a focus on Nigeria."

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Find the missing million voices!

Open Democracy is looking to find a few representative, strong women with stories to tell about HIV/AIDS. They are looking to hear from women who have direct experience of the problem in their communities, and are working locally to create real solutions - women in villages and slums who have formed local action groups, are working on prevention measures. What do THEY think is driving the epidemic in their community? Behaviours, poverty, ignorance, economic migration, etc. etc. What IS the local story? How is it affecting girls and women? What are girls and women doing about it?

For more information and to submit names, places and ideas, please write to guest editor Robert Walgate at AIDSvoices@scienceanalysed.com

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PREVENTING MOTHER TO CHILD TRANSMISSION

8. Community Mobilisation Model for Prevention of Mother to Child HIV Transmission (PMTCT) and Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) - Uganda

A rapid appraisal was first done to assess the knowledge of the communities on PMTCT and ART, and a curriculum designed to address various issues raised. Twenty-five trainers were selected from Christian and Muslim faiths to train community educators. The main objective of the education was to increase awareness and promote demand for ART services. 750 community educators of both Muslim and Christian faiths were trained together, including religious leaders and their assistants, who in turn started educating their communities about PMTCT and ART issues through sermons, group talks and home visits.

Contact Magid Kagimu imau@utlonline.co.ug

9. Continuing PMTCT Communication in South Africa

by Shari Cohen

The Government of South Africa, in collaboration with the Center for Disease Control trained national and provincial teams to facilitate the development of Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV/AIDS (PMTCT) communication strategies in every province of South Africa. The government used the Communication for Development approach, combined with the ACADA Communication Planning System. The approach was first field-tested in one province, and was determined by the government to be a success. It was then used in the various other provinces.

10. Linking PMTCT to Family-Based Antiretroviral Treatment and Care: A Behavior Change Perspective

by Mona Moore

"This discussion paper is intended to encourage dialogue and generate feedback from PMTCT and Safe Motherhood (SM) program planners and implementers who share the responsibility for shaping interventions to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and to improve maternal and newborn survival through conventional safe motherhood interventions. The paper reviews research results and field experience from a behavior change perspective, to see what can be applied to develop and strengthen the essential behavior change component of PMTCT programs. It briefly discusses some of the operational challenges faced by PMTCT programs documented in the literature, and how a behavior change approach could help to address them."

11. Stigma, HIV/AIDS and Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission: A Pilot Study in Zambia, India, Ukraine and Burkina Faso.

For some time now, HIV/AIDS-related stigma has been a major stumbling block in addressing HIV prevention, treatment, and care worldwide. In mid-2001, the Panos Institute Global AIDS Programme and UNICEF initiated a pilot project to explore the complexities of this stigma in greater depth. The long-term aims of this work were to promote greater understanding among policymakers and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) of the causes, expressions, and impact of such stigma and what action might be taken to reduce it.

MEDIA COVERAGE

12. Conveying Concerns: Media Coverage of Women and HIV/AIDS

This report comments on the impact of HIV/AIDS on women and girls, as seen by female journalists in developing nations. It contains a collection of articles and scripts by journalists from Costa Rica, Ghana, India, Kenya, Nepal, Philippines, and Romania. Topics include women's vulnerability to the epidemic, mother-to-child transmission of HIV, the impact of HIV/AIDS on girls and female migrants, and girls and women living with HIV/AIDS.

13. Reporting on HIV/AIDS in Africa: A Manual

Published by the International Women's Media Foundation, this manual was created as a tool for media professionals to use in improving and increasing their coverage of HIV/AIDS in Africa. The African Women's Media Foundation, a project of the IWMF, held two training workshops online on reporting on HIV/AIDS in 2000 and 2001. Some 270 women journalists from 12 African countries participated.

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The Soul Beat seeks to cover the full range of communication for development activities. Inclusion of an item does not imply endorsement or support by The Partners.

Please send material for The Soul Beat to the Editor - Anja Venth aventh@comminit.com