In the recent findings in a town outside Durban, about 1,500
pregnant women were tested of HIV, the results left the doctors speechless. 38%
of the women tested positive for HIV, which is just intense," says one of
the doctors.
In fact, these women
seemed like the least likely to get HIV. Most were married or in a committed
relationship. Many said they were faithful. How did so many of them get
infected? They said they're not quite sure, but they have a clue: During the
women's pregnancies — or right afterward, when their babies were tiny infants —
40 percent of them were abused. They were hit, beaten, threatened, and
emotional abused or even raped.
"These women are
living in situations and circumstances that no matter where they turn, they're
faced with the risk of violence — and then very negative health outcomes.
"And so much of that is beyond their own control."
That's
exactly what's driving the AIDS epidemic in southern Africa: women's vulnerability.
AIDS is the biggest
killer of young women in southern Africa. Every day more than 1,000 are
infected.
In
many places, women have no way to avoid exposure to HIV because their men are
sexual hawks.
"Women do not have
control over their lives sexually," says Zeda
Resoenberg, the founder and CEO of the non-profit International
Partnership for Microbicides.
Women
may not know their partners' status and may be afraid to ask them to get
tested. And they often do not control when they have sex.
"Rape, both within
and outside a relationship is very common," Rosenberg says. A report from the World Health Organization
found rates of sexual abuse by a partner were as high 60 percent in some parts of
Southern African.
A research conducted
recently in South Africa alone, more than 40% of men said they've raped at least one women.
And
condoms are often out of the question. "Men either threaten violence if
they are asked to use a condom or actually incur violence," she says.
"It is pervasive that the power dynamics here favor men."
What is the way forward! Is not better to start castrating these
men from the southern part of Africa since they are not ready to play safe or
stop violating women’s right.
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