|
Back to Index
Sexuality a human right for HIV positive women
PlusNews
July 09, 2007
http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=73133
NAIROBI, 9 July 2007
(PlusNews) - Abstinence or a sexually active life? The dilemma,
faced daily by HIV-positive women around the world, was discussed
by delegates attending the first global conference on women and
AIDS, in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
Many campaigns have preached
abstinence from sex as the best way to prevent the disease, inviting
criticism from those who question the efficacy of the strategy.
In the case of women with HIV, would abstinence be a desirable alternative?
Most women interviewed by PlusNews said abstinence was a personal
option, but none of them seemed to embrace it.
"We are sexual beings
and we have the right to have relationships. Part of being healthy
involves being sexually healthy," said Nigerian activist Rolake
Odetoyinbo, of the non-governmental organisation (NGO), Positive
Action for Treatment Action. "People with HIV must be at peace
with their sexuality in order to protect themselves."
As a result of the rapidly
expanding availability of antiretroviral treatment, people with
HIV live with a new reality: their health improves and so does their
sexual appetite.
"Did you know that
antiretrovirals make you horny?" joked Lutanga Shaba, an HIV-positive
woman and the director of The Women's Trust, an NGO in Zimbabwe.
"It doesn't work to pretend that sex isn't happening."
Through
the lens of human rights
Feminine sexuality and
sexual desire are realities of life, but society finds it harder
to accept when women living with the virus exercise these. One point
of agreement at the meeting was that the sexuality of people with
HIV should be viewed through the lens of human rights; that women
with HIV, like other women, have the right to a healthy sex life.
Delegates noted that
a subtle line separated privacy from the necessity of protecting
oneself and one's partner from infection or re-infection. "To
reveal one's condition should be done voluntarily - because the
woman wants to - but not as an obligation," said an activist
who did not want to be named.
One of the fears in relation
to this issue is that other countries will follow the example of
Namibia, which is considering legislation that would place the onus
on an HIV-positive person to inform any sexual partner of their
status, with a prison sentence imposed on anyone who infected another
person.
Deborah Williams, of
Trinidad and Tobago, a representative of the Caribbean Regional
Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS, emphasised the importance
of revealing one's HIV status. "If a partner doesn't say he
has HIV, then it is true violence against a woman. We have to lower
the rates of transmission by being open, speaking of our condition
for our protection; this has to be our promise," she said.
Shaba said the inequality
of the sexes also put women at a disadvantage. "If an HIV-positive
man discovers that his fiancée is positive, he is certain
to abandon her. But if a man is positive, the wedding will certainly
go on ... It is a question of gender."
Redefining
the terms
Conference participants
called for a more realistic approach to prevention than the current
ABC strategy of Abstinence, Be faithful, and use Condoms. "You
can throw ABC in the trash, it doesn't work," said Shaba.
Peter Piot, executive
director UNAIDS, was more cautious, pointing out that although many
current prevention programmes were based in the realities of 20
years ago, many achievements had been accomplished.
"We have to be careful
to not throw out the baby with the bathwater. Condoms continue to
work, but they are not sufficient. Nothing reduced to a single buzzword
works with HIV; it is always a combination of factors."
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
TOP
|
