Monday, July 10, 2006
Oledan: Stigma
By Radzini Oledan
Slice Of Life
MSMs. These are men who engage in sex with other men, but who do not necessarily see themselves as homosexual.
The National Aids registry shows that almost 30 percent of reported HIV cases nationwide involve male-to-male transmission. Most of these men are married and have families and therefore form an important epidemiological bridge for the transmission of HIV-Aids.
This only shows that male-to-male sexual transmission occurs. It may be denied, suppressed and stigmatized because of discomfort with the subject but it will nevertheless impact on the way health programs are handled.
A total of 2,200 HIV/Aids cases have been reported as of December 2004. The HIV/Aids Registry shows that 1,524 or 69 percent of the total reported cases were asymptomatic and 676 or 31 percent were Aids cases.
Forty-two percent of the Aids cases (263) had already resulted in deaths at the time of reporting. This social stigma is the apparent reason for the low level of health seeking behavior among this group. In fact, underreported cases would always be possible considering that many infected men may be unwilling to admit to have sex with another man and that this was the route for HIV infection.
MSMs often lack access to the information they need about health matters, including HIV Aids because of the need to keep their sexual identities hidden, and where the sexual encounters tend to be anonymous and casual, the danger exist.
The 2004 STI/HIV/Aids Technical Report shows that two to three partners per month remains to be a norm among MSMs although there are those who claim to have as many as 55 sex partners per month.
Sex between men often involves anal intercourse, which carries high risk of HIV transmission when the virus is present and no condoms are used. Yet, this is an area, which is not adequately taken into consideration.
One strategy could be for the Aids program to consider tapping existing gay organizations and even strengthen the existing networks of men who have sex with men because they are the ones who can do the best job of prevention education.
It may also be a matter of acceptance on the part of key players and even political leaders to accept that sex between men does exist, and is relevant to Aids prevention, care and support work.
Eventually, we also need to challenge the discrimination that makes people vulnerable.
For comments, please email roledan@hotmail.com.
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