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UNAIDS regional director calls for an end to stigma
Women and AIDS Support Network (WASN)
By Matilda Moyo
September 30, 2002

The regional director of UNAIDS in Zimbabwe, Dr George Tembo has called for an end to stigma against People Living with HIV/AIDS (PWA).

Speaking at the launch of the Voices and Choices Zimbabwe Report, Tembo, who was the guest of honour, noted that one of the problems faced in Africa when dealing with HIV/AIDS, was that of stigma.

"The biggest problem in this country is stigma," he said, adding that this often hampered whatever efforts were put in place to deal with the AIDS pandemic.

The Voices and Choices project was a research on the reproductive and sexual health rights of HIV positive women. It was jointly conducted by the Women and AIDS Support Network (WASN) and The International Community of Women Living With HIV/AIDS (ICW).

The research followed concerns raised by HIV positive women in 1995 during an international conference for people living with HIV/AIDS, which was hosted in Cape Town, South Africa, when 200 HIV positive women complained about the general lack of policy and research into their reproductive and sexual health.

The three-year project started in 1999 and was completed in 2001, with Zimbabwe being the first country to start and finish the project. Similar researches are being conducted in Thailand and the Ivory Coast.

The research is unique in that it was initiated by and conducted with the participation of HIV positive women. Positive women owned and managed the process, hence they were more than just mere subjects in the research. For the first time, women were not viewed as vectors of transmission as in parent-to-child-transmission of HIV (PTCT), but were seen as individuals with needs that required special attention.

Among the findings, the research revealed the circumstances under which most women discovered their HIV status. It also brought out the problems they faced concerning their reproductive health such as pressure to have children by in-laws, negative attitudes from health personnel and lack of access to information about their child-bearing options. For instance, many women who participated in the research were discouraged from having children by health workers and only two participants knew about the existence of drugs such as Nevirapine and AZT, which are effective in the prevention of parent-to-child-transmission (PPTCT) of HIV.

Outlining the problems faced by women, Dr Tembo said they were subjected to violence, coercion and discrimination, which made them vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. The situation, he said, was even worse for infected women because in addition to stigma, they faced the problem of gender inequality. This, he said, was a double tragedy.

"To help counter the problem it is important for women to have access to information in order to protect themselves and others. It is also very important for women to have access to proper health care facilities," he said.

Sadly however, Tembo noted that rather than address some of these problems practically, there was a tendency for policy makers to pay lip service yet there were no policies to back up their claims. There was a definite need for policies that protect women to be put in place, he said.

He added that there was also need to put in place legal structures within a socio-cultural context that was conducive to the local environment so that those who were supposed to benefit from it would not feel alienated by it.

He commended the Voices and Choices report, saying that as a research that was initiated and conducted by HIV positive women, it clearly indicated that women with HIV were productive. The report, he said, was a living example that women have a contribution to make towards society.

Apart from having an impressive cover, Tembo said the report contained a wealth of information, which if properly used, could improve the lives of HIV positive women throughout the country. However, he noted that the problem with most reports was that they ended up gathering dust on shelves and it was critical that the Voices and Choices Report should not end up lying idle.

The report, he pointed out, raised pertinent issues and because of this, it was important for all stakeholders to ensure that it was used effectively and that advocacy from the report went far in improving the lives of women, particularly those infected and affected by HIV.

The launch, he said, should not end in Harare, but should be complemented by initiatives that made it possible for other parts of the country to benefit from the research. Since the report raised issues concerning women in communities, it was important to ensure that the report reached those communities hence it should be availed to them.

He called on AIDS Service Organisations (ASO), particularly those present at the launch, to work together in implementing recommendations from the report and ensuring that the issues raised were addressed.

The report, Tembo said, should be used to complement existing efforts that were being made by various groupings elsewhere and should therefore not be used in isolation.

He added that the report articulated issues that could be used in the National AIDS policy and felt that the report should become a national document because of its excellence.

It is hoped that research findings will be useful in changing the lives of women while contributing to changes in policy on positive women’s reproductive and sexual health, as well as women in general.

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