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IBEKWE         OGOCHUKWU               ALEXANDER
IBEKWE OGOCHUKWU ALEXANDER


Disability, Sex and Woman - a triple taboo
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Sexuality is still a taboo topic in many societies - and the taboo is even greater for people with disabilities. Parents and relatives believe that a woman with disability should not engage in sex. Some sleep with any man, to get away from their parents. Others are taken advantage of by men, playing on the women's need to be wanted and loved. Many are raped precisely because of their vulnerability: their disability may make it difficult for them to get away or fight off attackers or, in the case of mental impairment, to understand what is happening.

Research shows that almost 90 per cent of disabled women experience sexual abuse, exploitation and violence from the very people who are supposed to be helping them - care-givers, close relatives and family members. Sexual partners are also often abusive them because people with disability feel they have fewer chances of a relationship, they tend to stay with a partner even if he is violent or takes many other partners.
What is acceptable in the community is for a disabled person to marry another disabled person so that together they share their curse", says a disabled local counselor in Uganda . To add to the already harrowing problems of discrimination and abuse in sexual matters comes the risk of HIV and AIDS. If you are raped, or have little choice in sexual partners, or have no power in a relationship - which is the experience of huge numbers of people with disability - you run a greatly increased risk of contracting a sexually transmitted infection including HIV.

Abusers may also deludedly believe the myth that sex with disabled women cures AIDS, or perhaps think that disabled women don't have sex and therefore will not be infected with HIV. Disabled people are less likely than others to be informed about HIV and AIDS, even in societies such as Nigeria where public information campaigns are widespread. Because they are seen as unlikely to have sex they often miss out on traditional sex education; because they are often illiterate, they may not be able to read publicity material; because they are often poor they may lack access to (or may be unable to hear or watch) radio and TV. It's hard enough for men; a disabled man approached a village health team for a packet of condoms and was asked, "What do you want to do with them? Has someone sent you for them?" Rather than risk further mockery and humiliation, the man chose to do without a condom. The difficulty experienced by a man in such circumstances can usually be multiplied many times for a woman. If someone with a disability becomes HIV-positive, discrimination triples. Disabled women living with HIV face double discrimination, First and foremost as women, secondly as women with disabilities. It is still worse if a woman has disability and is HIV positive. This means this person is being discriminated against three times over HIV and AIDS organisation are rarely willing to work with people with disabilities. There is no readily available information in Braille or sign language at Voluntary Testing Centers. No provision is made for the blind to read the instructions on condoms. To avoid yet further hostility, people with disabilities who also have AIDS frequently avoid getting treatment, including antiretroviral (ARV). A disable girl told me that she choose to suffer and die quietly than come out and expose herself to humiliation and stigma. People with disabilities were some times excluded from the country's national HIV/AIDS policy, reinforcing the perception that they were social misfits. There is need for new approach. It is a bleak picture, and of enormous importance, both for the individuals concerned but also for international efforts to halt and reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS. Given that an estimated 10 per cent of the world's citizens are disabled, the AIDS crisis cannot be addressed successfully unless individuals with disability are routinely included in all AIDS outreach efforts.

April 24, 2008 | 9:34 AM Comments  0 comments

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NYNETHA LEADERSHIP
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

bring to you compliments of the season even as I acknowledge the onerous task that you are carrying out in the field, I write to thank you all for your support, Contributions, ideas and wonderful postings just because of Election.

I never know that we have such a wonderful, vibrant and active young people in this E- forum that can devote their time energy and resources to talk about NYNETHA issues.

Too many young people die simply for lack of access to the knowledge that can save their lives. This knowledge exists; however it remains inaccessible to those who need it the most. Access to health information is an integral part of all health systems because it can improve people's health.

HIV/AIDS is trying to keep its promise by destroying our economy, increasing the number of orphan and vulnerable children in the country, bringing poverty to our Country, kill our young people, keep our young people out off school, broken homes, taking our love ones from us.
We need to ask ourselves these questions, are we keeping the promise, the promise of care and support PLWHA, the promise of greater involvement of PLWHA, in the planning, implementation and monitoring of HIV/AIDS activities, the promise of accountability, the promise of an HIV/AIDS free society and sustainable development. This and other questions we need to ask ourselves individually as we are in another year of HIV promise. It is a challenge to all of us to become more knowledgeable about HIV/AIDS and its related promises. The number of people living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria is increasing on young people and woman.
Some of us, where known and heard only in internet but when you come to their community and grassroots where HIV is keeping its promise they are doing noting. Everybody wants to be heard and known because NYNETHA election is at hand. But since we started this forum, they have not raised any issue, suggestions or shared any best practices for others to emulate. But today every body wants to be noticed ad heard just because of election.
The challenges that we young people are facing today are formidable, over 500 million people ages between 15 and 24 are living below the poverty line (less than $2.00 per day). 6,000 young people are infected with HIV daily And 1,500 women most of whom under 24 years die everyday as a result of Early pregnancy or childbirth World Population Report 2005 indicates That almost a quarter of all individuals living with HIV/AIDS are young People, yet they represent half of all new HIV infection cases. The prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria is about 4.4% translating to over 3.5 million people. The highest rate (5.6%) of infection is among young people aged 20-29 years. Despite progress in expanding prevention and treatment in the country, only 20% of males and 10 % of females between the ages 14 -25 can correctly identify ways of preventing HIV transmission. 1,200 young people in Nigeria got infected with HIV every day, which shows that one person per minute. World Population Report 2005 indicates Youth even though are important segment of our society lack the necessary information, skills and services that are needed to prevent themselves from contracting HIV. Youth are critical stakeholders in development processes and in the control of HIV/AIDS, we need to be heard and support. My dear brothers and sister, HIV and AIDS is one of the greatest threats to the welfare of Nigerian youths today, if we start to think about these issues and there solution then, this will start to break down the stigma and discrimination barriers that exist, and also provide a way for HIV/AIDS free society which is our vision

March 24, 2008 | 8:40 AM Comments  0 comments

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Combating HIV/AIDS Stigma, a Global Challenge
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Combating HIV/AIDS Stigma, a Global Challenge

Global AIDS numbers have dropped dramatically, but that is only half the battle won. Stigma towards HIV-positive Person needs to be countered if the threat of AIDS is to be overcome.

An Indian soldier discovers he is HIV-positive and is forced to deal with the termination of his services. An HIV-positive pregnant woman from West Bengal has a sticker plastered on her forehead by hospital staff; she is isolated in the ward and refused the urgent medical attention she needed. A couple is stoned, branded outcast by there community because they are HIV-positive. A HIV-positive woman aborts her own baby because hospital staff refuses to assist her. This intense stigma can be painful to endure.

The good news is that the number of people contracting HIV infection is dropping, worldwide. A few months ago, UNAIDS, releases its AIDS Epidemic Update for 2007, said new data show global HIV prevalence (the percentage of people living with HIV) has leveled off and the number of new infections has fallen, in part as a result of the impact of HIV programme.

Nigeria now ranks second among nations with the largest number of people living with HIV (www.globalhealth.org). Taking the optimistic arithmetic apart, the experiences of ordinary people living with HIV tell another story. Stigma and not surveillance, is the biggest problem.

A 25-year-old boy from Obosi Anambra State commits suicide to escape the stigma piled on, because of in proper counseling during testing. Private hospitals and laboratories pose a big challenge in compacting HIV/AIDS related Stigma in the rural area of Nigeria. Not only that some of them do not have up to date equipment in diagnosis, they are lacking information about HIV/AIDS where by causing psychological trauma to any body that passes through them which might result to suicide mission.

Stigma is hard to track and its impact even harder to measure. There is a need to generated data on stigma by including surveys on HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitudes and behavior. Overall acceptance measured through indicators like willingness to care for a positive person or accept a positive person, even associate with positive person is also needed.

Those vulnerable to and are experiencing social stigma and discrimination will be puzzled if they were told that awareness and knowledge about HIV/AIDS is higher than before. Awareness is not translating into tolerance or a shedding of stigma.
Protection against HIV and preventing its spread is certainly a key message, but protection using stigma and alienation will go nowhere. It is always challenging to fight for legislation and better policy outcomes. Nigeria is working on a law against discrimination of HIV-positive person. But laws and policies cannot be substitutes for a humane approach.