African women with AIDS speak out

Shavon Pulley/April 24/ Gender issues

A pan-African non-profit organization dedicated to HIV-positive women are speaking out saying there is a lot to be done to fight stigma and violence against infected women. The World Health Organization (WHO) say that more women and girls are more vulnerable than males because of marital violence and rape. No one is helping these females from being abused and mistreated. Traditions such as village traditions usually perform genital mutilation, wife inheritance (when a woman is given in marriage to her brother-in-law and childhood marriage) can be deadly. It is important for people to recognize that these traditions for females, are linked to their infections of HIV. When young females have HIV, they are often forced to drop out of school because of harassment. In many communities females are blamed for HIV transmission and not the men. These women need assistance and education to help against this disease. Someone that can help them gain confidence for themselves and stop the violence against them. These women don't know how to handle these type of situations, because of lack of education from dropping out. They have no where to turn for support. The men that usually rape them are their husbands or live inside their villages. These groups will hopefully gain awareness to these types of situations and find ways to help and protect these women. I don't understand why it is always in the African country that has the highest number of violence and sexual abuse. I f the HIV/AIDS numbers are so high in women, why are the men still raping and having sex with them? If many of them stopped to think about sex is the reason for transmitting the virus, the men would think twice before disrespecting these women. The men are the one's carrying the disease from woman to woman. Think about that???

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