WORLD AIDS DAY : SONKE GENDER JUSTICE CALLS ON SOUTH AFRICAN GOVERNMENT AND GLOBAL COMMUNITY TO ENGAGE MEN IN HIV HEALTH SERVICES - FOR EVERYONES SAKE Please share this press release widely friends! The 25th WORLD AIDS DAY is this SUNDAY. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: NOVEMBER 27, 2013 25th WORLD AIDS DAY IS MARKED BY SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT GLOBALLY, BUT MEN WITH HIV ARE ON THE SIDELINES WITH DIRE CONSEQUENCES FOR THEM, FOR WOMEN AND FOR THE GLOBAL FIGHT AGAINST HIV/AIDS. This Sunday marks the 25th World AIDS Day and for the third year in a row, the theme is “GETTING TO ZERO”. On December 1st, governments, NGO’s and awareness campaigns will echo the message of “Zero new HIV infections, Zero discrimination and Zero AIDS-related deaths”, but a new message is emerging: To Get To Zero, We Must Also Get To Men! There is much to celebrate this year. UNAIDS reports a global drop in new infections, and a more than halving of the deaths of children due to HIV since 2001. South Africas considerable achievement in getting nearly 2.5 million people on anti-retroviral treatment has contributed to this slowing of the epidemic. However, Sonke Gender Justice is concerned that health system failures to adequately engage men in testing and treatment services, and the absence of global or national policies to address this, threaten to undermine HIV prevention efforts. Too many men are being left out of HIV services,” says Bafana Khumalo, Co-Founder of Sonke Gender Justice, and Chair of the South African National AIDS Councils Mens Sector (SANAC) “Our new National Strategic Plan on HIV calls for attention to be paid to increasing mens use of HIV services, but were not seeing enough action on that yet. Khumalo explains that its necessary to work on both demand and supply of health services. In South Africa, and globally, we need campaigns that encourage men to value health seeking rather than see it as a sign of weakness, he says. Khumalo also says governments need to change the way health systems function and make HIV services more accessible by taking them out into communities. Governments need to ensure that health facilities welcome and accommodate women and men better than they currently do, he says, When men dont know their status, dont get on treatment, or default from it, its bad for all of us--women, men and society at large. A growing body of research data, including important studies by the University of Cape Town shows mounting evidence that men are at a distinct disadvantage in the roll-out of ART (Anti-Retroviral Therapy) in sub-Saharan Africa, and that, disproportionately fewer men than women are accessing ART across Africa. They report that men with HIV are starting ART with more advanced HIV disease, are more likely than women to interrupt treatment, are more likely to be lost to follow-up, and are 35% more likely to die of AIDS than women. Data from South Africas groundbreaking HIV testing campaign in which nearly 14 million people were tested reveal that only 30% of those tested were men. Preliminary reports from the National Department of Health reveal that only 20% of those on treatment are men. Sisonke Msimang, Sonkes Senior Programme Specialist says that concern about mens low use of HIV services is an issue of concern for everyone, and should not be seen to detract attention from the urgent need to address womens HIV related needs, explaining that the two are very much interconnected. “When health systems fail to engage men adequately, both men and women suffer,“ she says. Msimang explains that HIV positive men who don’t know their status are less likely to use condoms and more likely to have multiple partners than men who know that they are HIV positive, and that they are also more likely to become sick and die unnecessarily. “When men become ill, it is usually the women who shoulder the burden of care and then grieve the loss of husbands, boyfriends, fathers, brothers, sons and friends,” she says. Msimang also points out that the expense to treat men who show up at health facilities with severely compromised immune systems is an added burden on health systems. Khumalo and Msimang say that attention needs to be paid to addressing the blind spot in HIV policies and programmes related to the failure of health systems to engage men. New technologies like treatment for prevention, microbicides and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) offer tremendous potential for HIV prevention. However, they will all be less effective if we fail to increase mens use of HIV services. Sonke urges the South African government, UNAIDS, The Global Fund and key bilateral donors such as PEPFAR to develop policies and programmes to “get to men”. ### MEDIA CONTACT: Czerina Patel Sonke Communications Consultant [email protected] Journalists Coming to the 17th International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa, with the theme “Now More Than Ever: Targeting Zero” in Cape Town in December, please contact Czerina Patel to be updated about important press announcements and events of interest: [email protected] UPCOMING: Sonke Gender Justice pre-ICASA event: Sonke, together with UNAIDS, the University of Cape Town, and the South African National AIDS Council, are hosting a satellite event during ICASA titled ‘Targeting Zero Together-Increasing Mens Use of HIV services-for men, women and public health.’ WHEN: Tuesday 10thDecember, 18h30-20h00 WHERE: Southern Sun Cullinan Hotel (directly across the road from the CTICC where ICASA is taking place). The event will look at how mens low utilisation of HIV testing, treatment and care, particularly in Africa, is poorly understood and bad for everyones health, and will discuss interventions to challenge harmful social norms, improve mens health seeking behaviour and address related structural barriers in the health system and policies. Need more information: [email protected] Follow us on twitter: SonkeTogether
Posted on: Thu, 28 Nov 2013 05:56:33 +0000