LWI FEATURE: It Is Not as Simple as ABC *
16th International AIDS Conference: Ecumenical Session Focuses on HIV Impact on Women
TORONTO, Canada/GENEVA, 15 August 2006 (LWI) - "Love doesn't protect you from contracting HIV." This simple truth is not easy for many women to accept, says Sonia Covarrubias, a social worker and health educator from Chile.
Covarrubias, a member of a Lutheran World Federation (LWF) delegation attending the 16th International AIDS Conference, 13-18 August in Toronto, Canada, made these remarks at a session focused on concerns about the impact of HIV and AIDS on women, during a pre-conference event for faith-based organizations in this Canadian city.
An estimated 76 percent of new HIV infections are among young women, with some activists calling it the "feminization of HIV," participants heard during the session.
HIV Prevention for Women
Participants in the session were told that moralistic interpretations and theological differences often hindered the advancement and development of HIV prevention strategies for women.
The most widely known approach is the ABC strategy (Abstinence, Being faithful, and Condom use). But according to Becky Johnson of the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance (EAA), the Geneva-based coalition of faith-based groups advocating for increased access to effective prevention and treatment for HIV and AIDS, "ABC is not a holistic approach."
Many of the speakers during the session on the special efforts needed to prevent HIV infections among women, spoke on condition of anonymity, a sign perhaps of feeling vulnerable when addressing issues of sexual behavior.
One young woman said the ABC approach to prevention emphasized the responsibility of the individual and let pharmaceutical companies off the hook. "It makes it look as if universal access (to prevention measures) is not decisive. It's just personal responsibility that matters." She added that "women in certain circumstances just don't have the choice to practice ABC."
Participants unanimously condemned fear tactics used in the past as prevention strategies. "The clergy in Namibia, for example, tried to scare people from having sex when the AIDS pandemic began," one of the speakers recalled. "But using fear as prevention of HIV does damage to the children and teenagers who are being scared and it increases stigma," it was noted.
Churches were criticized for fearing to openly promote the "C" in ABC - condom use. "ABC is a black and white approach in a gray world," one woman said. "We have to go beyond ABC."
Poverty and Domestic Violence
The problem of HIV infection among women lies not only in sexual relationsh ips and the right to protection. It is also closely connected with the social, political and economic circumstances in which women live.
Patricia Achieng Sawo from Kenya, the East African coordinator of the African Network of Religious Leaders living with or personally affected by HIV or AIDS (ANARELA+), said, "We have had 25 years of HIV and AIDS but 2,000 years of poverty and violence!"
ANARELA+ promotes "SAVE" - Safer practices, Availability of medication and nutrition, Voluntary counseling and testing, and Empowerment - as an alternative approach to ABC.
Noting the discrepancy between knowing about HIV prevention methods and making an actual change in behavior, a speaker who has worked with HIV and AIDS prevention for many years stressed that women who live in dire poverty did not have the choice to practice ABC or any other prevention strategy. "Without prospects for the future, people just live for the moment. Itâs that hopelessness that adds to the spread of HIV. Why be careful when thereâs no hope for me anyway?" she asked.
Pastor James M. Matarazzo, Jr, from the Interfaith Consulting Group, LLC, in Boston, USA, links HIV and domestic violence against women, which is often neglected when talking about prevention strategies. "Domestic violence can be physical, sexual, emotional, economic or psychological actions or threats of actions that influence anothecludes any behavior that intimidates, manipulates, humiliates, isolates, frightens, coerces, blames or hurts someone."
Matarazzo cited a study based on 50 surveys from around the world, which showed that one out of three women had been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime. At the intersection between domestic violence and HIV prevention strategies, he pointed out, "Violence and fear of violence make it difficult for women to negotiate safer sex including condom use. Fear of violence prevents women from accessing information about HIV, being tested, disclosing their status, seeking treatment, care and support." Improving the social situation of women, he said, was an indispensable part of HIV prevention work.
Churchesâ Role
Many participants expressed regret that clergy and church members did not know what to do in response to the spread of HIV, and called on churches to include more women from the grassroots level in the development of their HIV and AIDS strategies and messages.
"We in the faith-based agencies and organizations only put into practice what comes from the churches. We don't write the messages ourselves. Women, especially the young ones, should get more involved from the beginning," one participant commented.
Discussion pointed to the need for education and information campaigns about HIV and AIDS that target men as well as women. Drawing on her experience with "Popular Education for Health" (Educacion Popular en Salud), a health training organization founded in 1982 by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chile, Covarrubias said, "In everything we do against HIV, we have to consider gender inequality. If men are not included, it won't work."
Covarrubias believes the church must "provide clear and accurate informatio n about HIV and promote strategies to empower communities and women." She recognizes this as a long-term endeavor, and encourages the church to "be open to meet with the community and develop programs together." After all, "The role of the church is to place itself on the side of the marginalized in order to overcome social injustice," she adds. (970 words)
(Reported by LWI correspondent Julia Heyde, who is a member of an EAA-coordinated Ecumenical Media Team, providing news and daily feature articles from the 2006 International AIDS Conference in English, with additional coverage in Spanish, French, and German. More information is available at http://www.e-alliance.ch/iac_2006.jsp)
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(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund, Sweden, the LWF currently has 140 member churches in 78 countries all over the world, with a total membership of 66.2 million. The LWF acts on behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as ecumenical and inter-faith relations, theology, humanitarian assistance, human rights, communication, and the various aspects of mission and development work. Its secretariat is located in Geneva, Switzerland.)
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