At a recent conference in Harare, an International Treatment Preparedness Coalition team presented a report on living conditions for HIV-positive women in select countries, including Zimbabwe. Some 55 percent of Zimbabweans with HIV are female, according to government data.
Carol Mubaira and colleagues found that HIV prevention efforts present a unique set of challenges for women. Frequently, females who disclose their positive status are "effectively shunned by their communities, isolated, and become lonely," explained Mubaira.
"In some cases a woman, who because of her HIV status will not breastfeed, is labeled a witch by her in-laws because they do not understand the problems of mother-to-child transmission," said Mubaira. "So that woman is shunned by her relatives and community. HIV-positive women are still being stigmatized."
Zimbabwe's national AIDS plan for 2010 addresses females' vulnerability to the disease. "They may be compromised in their ability to ward off unwanted sexual attention or negotiate safe sex," the plan acknowledges. "Increasing levels of poverty lead some women into casual or commercial sex work, while male norms allow for multiple and concurrent partnership, including casual and commercial sex."
The revenue from a special tax on workers' salaries is earmarked for fighting AIDS; however, given the nation's unemployment rate of 85 to 90 percent, not enough money is being raised. Antiretroviral (ARV) drugs are in short supply. Just 180,000 patients are receiving ARV treatment through the government, though 600,000 are in need.
The analysis focused on Argentina, Cambodia, Moldova, Morocco, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.
03/07/10
ZIMBABWE: Burden of AIDS Hits Zimbabwe’s Women Hardest
Source: Agence France Presse; Courtesy of the CDC National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention