HIV prevention among women -Getting men involved: Lessons from SA

Desmond Lesejane

� Established in August 2006, now with offices in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Pretoria.

� 30 full-time staff working across South and Southern Africa including: Lesotho, Swaziland, Kenya, Namibia, Botswana, Malawi and Zambia.

� Co-Chair Global MenEngage Alliance, MenEngage Africa Region Coordinator and member of Athena Network.

� www.genderjustice.org.za

� Flagship programme is ONE MAN CAN

� Partner in the Brothers for Life Campaign

� The AIDS pandemic disproportionately affects women, both in terms of rates of infection and the burden of care and support for those with AIDS-related illnesses.

� Young women in sub-Saharan Africa are much more likely to be infected than men. Women are made vulnerable to HIV by conditions of poverty, unemployment, entrenched gender inequalities

� HIV and Men

� Why work with men

� The basis for men’s involvement

� Adopting positive strategies

� There is a link between HIV and GBV. Men who are violent

are also likely to engage in risky sexual behaviour and likely to

be HIV positive (MRC study)

� Few men access health care facilities and know their HIV

status

� In SA HIV prevalence peaks in the 30-34 age group and there

has not been any targeted responses

� Gender roles and social constructions of masculinity also

damage men’s lives across a broad range of public health

indicators: HIV, violence, road safety, alcohol, suicide etc.

� It is not a zero sum game where women become the winners

and men the net losers.

� HIV is also not just a women’s issue, but a social / economic/

cultural / political phenomenon with links to and driven by

patriarchy and negative masculinities

� The HIV & GENDER complex is a key factor in the spread of

HIV. The sad reality of the older man / young woman

dynamic fuelled by medical, cultural and social myths is a

concern

� Finding solutions therefore requires scaled up work with men

in the areas identified

� Work with men must promote women’s and girl’s rights;

� The work must enhance boy’s and men’s lives which are also

negatively affected by the burdens of gender injustices

� It must be inclusive of the sexual / cultural / economic /social

spectrum of ‘manliness’

� The work must confront systemic causes and drivers of the

pandemic (gender inequalities)

� Move away from negative stereotyping of men and

acknowledge positive male contributions and build

on that

� Promote men’s involvement in reproductive health

initiatives. This will enhance their lives, but also help

them to protect the lives of their partners and

children (PMTCT)

� Promote men’s involvement in the care economy

� Promote government and workplace policies that encourage

men to be more receptive to gender transformation

� Demonstrate benefit to society

ContentContentContentContent

� Sexual health◦ Promote men’s ownership of their own health

◦ Involvement in reproductive health

� And protection of children

� Gender transformation◦ Promote healthy gender relationships

◦ Promote empowerment of women

� Negative masculinities◦ Debunk myths of violence and risky behaviour as determinants of maleness

� Show the benefit to men if they

◦ Share the economic load

◦ Stay healthy

� Benefit to society

◦ Increase the well being of society

� Healthier families and communities

◦ Criminal justice system

� Cost on the national fiscus

◦ Health system

� Costs of belated health checks

◦ Economic development

� Exclusion of women

� Reduced alcohol induced mortalities

� “African men will probably never change”. Margaret

Wente, Toronto Globe and Mail, August 16, 2006

� The question is not whether men can change, but

rather

◦ can policies and programmes in society accelerate and

influence positive change

� Recognising men’s investment in change reduces

men’s potential resistance to gender transformation.

� Indeed there are growing numbers of men

embracing change who needs to be supported

� Often short-term, workshop focused without sufficient

focus on moving from reflection to action.

� Insufficient use of policy and community mobilization

and rights literacy to take to scale

� Need to integrate focus on men and gender into

broader work including condom & femidoms

promotion, male circumcision, microbicides etc.

� Lack of collective efforts and collaboration

� Disjuncture with cultural and religious systems and

values

� YENZA KAHLE

� DO THE RIGHT THING

� DIRA SENTLE

� www.genderjustice.org.za