“There are 30.4 million people worldwide living with HIV/AIDS and more than two thirds of people infected are from Africa. In South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal is the epicentre in terms of the spread of the disease. There is no time to be complacent; what is frightening is that the general spread of the disease remains high. Also, 70% of all HIV/AIDS infected women live in Sub-Saharan Africa,” stressed Professor Deevia Bhana.
Prof Bhana, who is from the School of Education, College of Humanities, University of KwaZulu-Natal, was speaking about her research regarding the topic about Gender dynamics and women’s vulnerability to HIV/AIDS, at the Durban University of Technology’s Hotel School Conference Room, Ritson Campus in Durban, yesterday, (14 May 2014).
She is an author, as well as teaches and conducts research in the areas of gender, sexuality, masculinity and HIV/AIDS. At the talk, Prof Bhana gave feedback on the recent Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) report which highlighted specific groups as key populations in the epidemic. The report also showed an increase in prevalence rates in South Africa.
“Women between the ages of 15 and 49 years were most vulnerable to the spread of the disease. Age and sex disparity in HIV/AIDS acquisition is a key driver of the epidemic. How do we understand what happens within the relationships?
“How do we help one to think differently about women’s vulnerability with regards to HIV/AIDS, as well as understand Africa in relation to being women? We have dossile women and ruthless African men (take the case of Boko Haram- Nigeria’s militant Islamist group which kidnapped 200 young girls on 14 April 2014.) These men have threatened to sell them and it is believed that they will also be forced to have sex with the militants, thus facing the risk of HIV/AIDS.
“There is a need to empower women about their position in society and in relation to HIV/AIDS vulnerability and gender as important in addressing perilous masculinities that deem men to require sexual services from women,” she said.
While she focused on women being so vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, her work is equally dedicated to also understanding the ways men are emasculated which includes understanding their identity and issues of health such as HIV/AIDS.
She believes that understanding gender vulnerability requires equal understanding of men’s struggles. Her study also gives young people the opportunity to talk about relationships, love, romance and marriage, which are key elements and investments to them.
She found that young people raised ‘love’ as most significant in their lives. She added that the major theme she saw was that sex was at the heart of HIV/Aids and that being willing to have sex proves one’s ‘love’ in time.
Many researchers and academics from various tertiary institutions and NGO’s were eager to learn more about gender dynamics in the hope of using the information in their own research work or as educational messages.
“I do hope that we all learn to understand that all our intervention programmes must be related to the realities of life. Love and investment in sexuality is something we need to look at, as well as how men and women can negotiate and build on protecting their sexual health and cultural values – so we need to address issues that matter to the youth,” said Prof Bhana.