Kenya: Young Women Weep in Anguish As HIV Infection Rates Increase
By, Arthur Okwemba, The Nation (Nairobi), August 18, 2007
As anti-Aids campaigners smiled and gave each other a pat on the back for the drop of HIV prevalence rates from 5.9 per cent to 5.1 per cent, young women wept in anguish.
Information released by National Aids Control Council this week shows that being a girl aged between 15 and 24 years is no fun at all, as one is at a high risk of HIV infection compared to female adults.
For every one young man in the age bracket who is infected with HIV, there are four young women. HIV and Aids prevalence among males was 3.5 per cent and 6.7 per cent among females.
"There is great concern with a ratio that is too high as this one. We want to bring it to every one man infected there are two women infected or an infection ratio of one man to one woman," says council chairperson Miriam Were.
"But we have to address some of the most difficult issues if this is to happen."
Aids experts and anthropologists say a significant proportion of the women cannot negotiate for safer sex through use of protection. A case in point is the female condom.
Although introduced in the country a few years ago, it is yet to reach those who need it most. With the cheapest of the few outlets selling it asking for Sh80 a piece, most women find the price prohibitive.
Its manufacturers argue that the material used is very expensive, hence the pricing.
On the other hand, the male condoms retail at Sh10 or are given out at no cost.
But men either refuse to use them or if they do, it is not always correctly.
It is against this backdrop that the Government has started distributing the female condoms free of charge.
For the past three years, the National Aids and STDs Control Council (Nascop) has distributed over a million female condoms.
Family panning
Beneficiaries have been commercial sex workers and couples, who obtain them in bars, restaurants, family panning clinics, or women and youth groups.
Despite the effort, few young people have benefited.
The institutions used were cited as "hostile" or "not favourable" for youngsters.
Arguments are now being advanced for introduction of sexual and reproductive health service centres that are friendly to young people through which the condoms can be distributed.
International Planned Parenthood Federation-Africa Region which offers reproductive health services to youths in 44 African countries, says opening up of the youth-friendly centres will enable young people access the condoms. Dr Josephine Kibaru, head of Division of Reproductive Health revealed that the Government will set up youth friendly services centres in every district hospital.
But accessibility and cost are the only challenges on the use of the female condom as some women are still likely to shun it.
The majority of the women who have used the gadget say it was difficult to insert, cumbersome, and troublesome to remove.
And their male partners asked them to remove it.
"I tried it with my boyfriend, but I had to remove it before finishing the act due to the noise it was making," says 22-year-old Lydia Nyambura, a city resident.
With all these problems, the focus seems to have remained largely on male condoms.
Male condom
While statistics show use of male condom to have increased from two million per month in 2000, to more than 10 million monthly today, this increase seems not to benefit women, particularly young girls. Yet, the assumption has been increase in condom use would see a significant drop in the number of women infected with HIV. This is not, however, the case.
It is reckoned that the men either use the condoms incorrectly, inconsistently, or not at all during sexual intercourse.
The 2003 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey findings show that of those aged between 15 and 24 years, only 12 per cent of the young women and 14 per cent males used condoms during their first sexual intercourse.
Another study by University of Nairobi social scientists in 2002 indicated that condom use decreased as relationships matured.
Prof Omu Anzala of Kenya Aids Vaccine Initiative says a woman's biological make-up makes them more susceptible to HIV infection than men.
"A man is at risk of HIV infection during the sex act, but the woman is exposed during and long after the act," he says. When the semen carrying the virus gets into the woman's vaginal track, it can stay there for more than two days, giving the virus enough time to infect her.
Poverty has also fuelled the spread of the virus.
A World Bank study whose findings were released this week, says poor women exchange sexual favours for food.
Women from Bungoma and Kiambu interviewed during the study said they resorted to extra-marital sex to meet household needs.
As anti-Aids campaigners smiled and gave each other a pat on the back for the drop of HIV prevalence rates from 5.9 per cent to 5.1 per cent, young women wept in anguish.
Information released by National Aids Control Council this week shows that being a girl aged between 15 and 24 years is no fun at all, as one is at a high risk of HIV infection compared to female adults.
For every one young man in the age bracket who is infected with HIV, there are four young women. HIV and Aids prevalence among males was 3.5 per cent and 6.7 per cent among females.
"There is great concern with a ratio that is too high as this one. We want to bring it to every one man infected there are two women infected or an infection ratio of one man to one woman," says council chairperson Miriam Were.
"But we have to address some of the most difficult issues if this is to happen."
Aids experts and anthropologists say a significant proportion of the women cannot negotiate for safer sex through use of protection. A case in point is the female condom.
Although introduced in the country a few years ago, it is yet to reach those who need it most. With the cheapest of the few outlets selling it asking for Sh80 a piece, most women find the price prohibitive.
Its manufacturers argue that the material used is very expensive, hence the pricing.
On the other hand, the male condoms retail at Sh10 or are given out at no cost.
But men either refuse to use them or if they do, it is not always correctly.
It is against this backdrop that the Government has started distributing the female condoms free of charge.
For the past three years, the National Aids and STDs Control Council (Nascop) has distributed over a million female condoms.
Family panning
Beneficiaries have been commercial sex workers and couples, who obtain them in bars, restaurants, family panning clinics, or women and youth groups.
Despite the effort, few young people have benefited.
The institutions used were cited as "hostile" or "not favourable" for youngsters.
Arguments are now being advanced for introduction of sexual and reproductive health service centres that are friendly to young people through which the condoms can be distributed.
International Planned Parenthood Federation-Africa Region which offers reproductive health services to youths in 44 African countries, says opening up of the youth-friendly centres will enable young people access the condoms. Dr Josephine Kibaru, head of Division of Reproductive Health revealed that the Government will set up youth friendly services centres in every district hospital.
But accessibility and cost are the only challenges on the use of the female condom as some women are still likely to shun it.
The majority of the women who have used the gadget say it was difficult to insert, cumbersome, and troublesome to remove.
And their male partners asked them to remove it.
"I tried it with my boyfriend, but I had to remove it before finishing the act due to the noise it was making," says 22-year-old Lydia Nyambura, a city resident.
With all these problems, the focus seems to have remained largely on male condoms.
Male condom
While statistics show use of male condom to have increased from two million per month in 2000, to more than 10 million monthly today, this increase seems not to benefit women, particularly young girls. Yet, the assumption has been increase in condom use would see a significant drop in the number of women infected with HIV. This is not, however, the case.
It is reckoned that the men either use the condoms incorrectly, inconsistently, or not at all during sexual intercourse.
The 2003 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey findings show that of those aged between 15 and 24 years, only 12 per cent of the young women and 14 per cent males used condoms during their first sexual intercourse.
Another study by University of Nairobi social scientists in 2002 indicated that condom use decreased as relationships matured.
Prof Omu Anzala of Kenya Aids Vaccine Initiative says a woman's biological make-up makes them more susceptible to HIV infection than men.
"A man is at risk of HIV infection during the sex act, but the woman is exposed during and long after the act," he says. When the semen carrying the virus gets into the woman's vaginal track, it can stay there for more than two days, giving the virus enough time to infect her.
Poverty has also fuelled the spread of the virus.
A World Bank study whose findings were released this week, says poor women exchange sexual favours for food.
Women from Bungoma and Kiambu interviewed during the study said they resorted to extra-marital sex to meet household needs.
posted by AIDS-Care-Watch at 9:32 am
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