1. Posted on Thursday 25 October 2012 - 18:14

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   FRAZER POTANI

   

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   Feature
   
   By Frazer Potani, Lilongwe, Malawi
   
   They strolled from their houses of different sizes from all corners of the continent and travelled by whatever means to get here!
   
   These were hundreds of members of the faith community including other invited delegates dressed in various attractive attires from over 20 African states recently gathering at a Second International Conference on Global Race to Save Lives from HIV and AIDS at the new, magnificent, Bingu International Conference Centre in Lilongwe Malawi to rekindle their vows and commitments in HIV and AIDS fight.
   
   Yes! At this important meeting, members of the faith community said they wanted nothing but eradication of HIV and AIDS by 2031 to rescue the human race from the current suffering and death from the epidemic.
   
   “The time has come for more advocacy and prayers to challenge Aids-related stigma, shame, denial, discrimination, in action and mis-action. There is need to end Aids by 2031, failure of which the human race will be wiped out,” said the convenor of the conference Reverend Canon Gideon Byamugisha.
   
   He emphasized that it was necessary that the delegates declared that with support from other stakeholders in 19 years from now end HIV and AIDS before it ends the human race.
   
   “We will pray and lobby to realise that dream. We are physically determined, psychologically prepared, spiritually motivated," Byamugisha said.
   
   However, he was quick to say that if the pandemic is to be eradicated in the global society there is need to empower young people, women, children and all the people most vulnerable to HIV and AIDS.
   
   Byamugisha further urged Malawi and all global leaders to also pledge their commitment to help the faith leaders to realise the dream through practical support, prayer and technical support.
   
   Taking his turn, Malawi’s Vice President also Minister of Health, Khumbo Kachali, saluted the faith community for their innovations in the fight against HIV and AIDS.
   
   Kachali particularly applauded the faith community’s advocacy on safer practices, available medications, Voluntary HIV Testing and Counselling (VTC) and Empowerment through Education (the SAVE model).
   
   "Let me commend you, the faith community, for your innovation in coming up with a comprehensive working model called SAVE Model which has been devised, as I am informed, to help achieve the three zeros, that is, zero new HIV infections, zero new HIV and Aids related deaths and zero stigma and discrimination." said Kachali adding that with the model a lot of strides are being realized in HIV and AIDS fight.
   
   But if the committed vows in HIV and AIDS fight at the Second International Conference on Global Race to Save Lives from HIV and AIDS in Lilongwe are to yield the intended fruits there is a lot to be done since for instance some of them are not new.
   
   Yes! It was revealed at a Civil Society Organization and journalists meeting which was organized by Journalists Association Against AIDS (JournaAids) in Lilongwe that, just like at a Second International Conference on Global Race to Save Lives from HIV and AIDS, the Fifth Session Of African Union (AU) Conference Of Ministers Of Health held from 17 to 21 April 2011 in Windhoek, Namibia delegates recognized the UNAIDS strategy 2011 to 2015, and the vision of Zero new infections, Zero discrimination, and Zero AIDS-related deaths and their interrelationships, aimed at advancing progress in achieving country-set targets for universal access to HIV treatment and the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.
   
   The meeting also recommended the need to stop new HIV infections, including cutting by half the number of HIV infections by 2015 by focusing on evidence-informed and rights-based efforts on the populations that account for the largest share of new infections, and by saturating transmission hot spots with proven interventions and approaches that link the social and health needs of People Living With HIV and AIDS (PLWHAs) within a human rights framework.
   
   The Windhoek gathering also recommended the facilitatation of initiatives for young people to promote HIV prevention through youth-driven interventions and strengthen sexual and reproductive health education for youth.
   
   The delegates also endorsed the need to establish legal, political and social environments that enable effective HIV responses — including through protective laws, supportive law enforcement and access to justice — to eradicate HIV-related stigma and discrimination and to enable equitable access to HIV-related information, VCT and services, especially for vulnerable and key populations.
   
   On the agenda at the Namibia meeting was also to prevent primary HIV infections in order to eliminate Mother-To-Child Transmission (MTCT) of HIV, and in so doing keep mothers and children alive, prevent children from becoming infected and improve health of women, children and families.
   
   Another recommendation at the Windhoek gathering was to prioritize and budget for evidence-informed prevention interventions such as male circumcision, microbicides, vaccines as well as male and female condoms with clear targets for HIV prevention outcomes.
   
   The World Health Organization (WHO) study reveals that condom use during sex has a preventive measure against the spread of HIV and AIDS yet most religious leaders in Africa are against the sheaths.
   
   The organization discloses that in its study in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, HIV prevention campaigns aimed at sex workers for example were strengthened during the 1990s, including peer support and condom promotion.
   
   This resulted in a reduction in HIV incidence amongst sex workers in the city, from 25 to 50 percent to 4 percent by the end of the decade.
   
   Beneficiaries of the Nairobi WHO condom promotion included the sex workers' married clients and their wives.
   
   The WHO Nairobi study on the impact of condom use in HIV and AIDS fight deliberately targeted sex workers bearing in mind that in many parts of the world, prostitutes have been among the groups most vulnerable to and most affected by HIV since the first HIV and AIDS case discovery in 1981.
   
   Even reserachers Robert Gadner and Richard Blackburn from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Centre for Communication Programs in the United States also did their own study and claim that although some cultures and religions have negative attitudes towards condom use the sheaths have the potential of preventing the spread of HIV and AIDS.
   
   “Consistent condom use by nonmonogamous sex partners could protect millions of people from HIV infection and other Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) and reduce the enormous costs associated with STDs,” they said.
   
   The researchers add that despite condom use benefits in HIV and AIDS fight however, condom use is still low globally.
   
   They reveal that condom use even needs to increase to about 15 billion per year from 8 to10 billion per year to prevent STDs globally.
   
   “An estimated 33 million people live with HIV/AIDS worldwide, and an estimated 16,000 people are infected with the virus each day. Condom use remains low within marriages approximately 7 percent,”said the two researchers.
   
   The dual further explained that many unmarried, sexually active people continue to practice risky sex behaviour-even when they know about STDs and condoms-because of mistaken beliefs that they are not at risk and or because social norms discourage condom use and encourage high-risk male sex behaviour.
   
   “Traditional gender roles and fear of violent reactions inhibit women from talking about sex with their partners or negotiating condom use,” they said.
   
   The researchers said promotion, advocacy, communication campaigns, and counselling could change social norms and inform people about risks.
   
   “Governments must help close the condom gap by adopting policies that make condoms widely available and universally accepted. Donors must also provide adequate funds and technical assistance to meet this challenge,” they said.
   
   Malawi Interfaith AIDS Association (MIAA) former Board Chairperson Thomas Msusa said his organization, with assistance from the National AIDS Commission (NAC) came up with a plan on Mutual Faithfulness for 2008 to 2012 after noting high HIV and AIDS infections among married couples in religious quarters.
   
   “It’s with deep regret that we have noted that since the HIV and AIDS epidemic was noted in Malawi many years ago, HIV continues to spread at an alarming rate,” he said then adding, “Some of those who contracted the virus are married Christians and Moslems.”
   
   The former NAC chairperson in Malawi, Archbishop Bernard Malango attributed HIV and AIDS infections still taking place in the country due to people’s tendecy of not using condoms consistently to safeguard themselves against STDs including HIV and AIDS.
   
   Malawian religious leaders like in most sub-Saharan Africa have for quiet along time been against condom promotion and instead, advocated for faithfulness in relationships and abstinence for the unmarried saying promoting use of the sheaths would encourage promiscuity.
   
   “Although the proportion of people using male and female condoms has risen over the past few years, the uptake is still low,” said Malango adding that as a country, Malawi has a challenge of low and inconsistent condom use as one of the key factors driving the spread of HIV and AIDS.
   
   The retired Anglican Archbishop further said a related challenge was that attitudes towards condom use have generally been negative among high risk groups and in long stable relationships and the general population.
   
   “Worse still, there are myths and misconceptions about condoms especially at community level. Condoms are sometimes associated with promiscuity, commercial sex and distrust of one’s partner. There are also some people who believe that condoms reduce sexual pleasure,” said Malango adding, “We need to think of ways to make people value their lives in such a way that they will see the need to use condoms consistently.”
   
   According to NAC statistics condom use is indeed still low in Malawi revealing that for instance, of the 20 million (500,000 female and 19.5 million male socially marketed condoms distributed) between 2007 and 2008 its annual achievement was just slightly over half (10,481,901 male (71,676 female) condoms.
   
   Meanwhile, in a study by Mina Mauerstein Bail, a Manager for United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in New York, United States it is revealed that men’s behaviour of expressing their reluctance to practice safe sex for instance using condoms in countries such as Malawi and regions such as sub-Saharan Africa are behind high rates of HIV and AIDS infections in women.
   
   “Estimates suggested that between 60 to 80 percent of women who got infected with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa had only one sexual partner,” she said.
   
   It is therefore, yet to be seen after vows were recently committed in Lilongwe by members of the African faith community to eradicate HIV and AIDS in 19 years from now if the virus will indeed be rooted out from the global village.
   
   

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