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Cross-generational sex, particularly
between older men and younger women, is a main reason females account for 60
percent of southern Africa’s HIV cases, according to experts.
“It’s one of the means for HIV
transmission, especially men that have their spouses but they go out with these
younger ladies,” said Linda Chongo, of Mozambique’s National Network of AIDS
Service Organizations. “As money rules, the person with the money will be the
one who will impose the rules to be taken. It is quite difficult to negotiate
safe sex when you are already in a lower position.”
Even young women who are aware of
the HIV risks often become involved with older men, said Stuart Chuka, a Malawi
AIDS treatment program coordinator. “One of the reasons is that the young women
do not have the capacity, more especially because of finances,” to provide for
themselves, he said.
But Chongo said poverty only partly
explains the phenomenon. “If you look into Africa you will see that poverty has
always been there, but our grandmothers and mothers didn’t behave the way we
are behaving now,” she noted.
Zimbabwe officials are developing
campaigns discouraging what are known as “small houses” - long-term
extra-marital affairs between older men and young women, as compared to the
“big house” where a man’s wife resides. “As part of our ongoing campaign to
prevent new infections, we are designing posters to discourage age-mixing in
relationships,” said Beauty Nyamwanza, a National AIDS Council program officer.
After South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal
province recorded an increase in teenage pregnancies linked to sex with older
men, it put up 89 billboards highlighting the dangers of cross-generational sex
and created support groups to help young women resist such relationships.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
