HIV/AIDS is the Price Women Pay for Hunger

AFRICA: /RIGHTS/HEALTH/ /26/08/02 Sabanews

SHIMABALA, ZAMBIA -- Eunice Mulenga trades sex for food, says Inter Press Service (IPS) in a report.

The 38-year-old is one of a growing number of women in ZAMBIA who say they have little choice but to have sex with men so that they can feed hungry mouths at home.

The single mother of three is caught up in the double emergency faced by Southern African countries.

Experts are seeing a worrying link between the impact of the food crisis facing countries in sun-Saharan Africa and the spread of HIV/AIDS in the region which is already the epicentre of the global AIDS epidemic.

Female-headed households are the most vulnerable, IPS points out. Women who have their own children often have the added burden of looking after the children of dead relatives and friends.

More and more women are resorting to bartering sex for food, often without the use of a condom, therefore putting themselves and others at risk of becoming infected with the HIV virus.

Where food is most scarce, a recent UNAIDS report warns, HIV prevalence is alarmingly high.

Caro Tembo is another Shimabala resident who has also resorted to selling her body for food since the food crisis tightened its grip on the country.

“I feel ashamed, people are starting to talk about me but I have no education, so I don’t have any other way of earning money,” the 32-year-old single mother of two told IPS. /Sabanews/an

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Health Services Harder Still for Black, Latina Women With HIV

UNITED STATES: /RIGHTS/HEALTH/ /26/08/02 Sabanews

NEW YORK -- Women of colour, who comprise the vast majority of HIV/AIDS cases in the United States, face stigmatisation and difficulty accessing the services they need.

These problems are magnified behind prison walls, where the proportion of woman inmates with HIV is as high as 21 percent in some states like New York – compared to just 9 percent of male inmates, says Inter Press Service (IPS) in a report.

Women in jail are three times as likely as male prisoners to be living with AIDS. Most female inmates are in jail for non-violent offences, usually drug-related.

Doctors are suspicious towards the inmates, and tend to treat them as dope-fiends. Prison medicine is adversarial medicine.

People are reluctant to come forward; there is also a degree of AIDS phobia.

Judy Greenspan, a long-time advocate for prisoners living with HIV/AIDS says only a very small number of HIV-positive inmates are even identified.

Altogether, women of colour comprise just over half of the female U.S. prison population. Many are mothers. /Sabanews/an

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HIV has Not Stopped Australian Athlete from Running

AUSTRALIA: /RIGHTS/HEALTH/ /26/08/02 Sabanews

CANBERRA – Deanna – she prefers not to reveal her surname – is an Australian runner. She is HIV-positive.

She is looking forward to challenging prejudices about HIV when she lines up to compete in the triathlon at the forthcoming World Masters Games to be held in Melbourne, AUSTRALIA.

The Masters Games is the equivalent of the Olympic Games for those over 25 years old. Over 20,000 competitors from more than 87 countries will be participating in the games in October.

Deanna has made a determined effort to lead as normal a life as possible, says an Inter Press Service (IPS) report. She juggles work, training for the triathlon, managing her health and demands of parenting a four-year-old daughter.

“I have got a job, I have a child, I have a partner and that’s not what people expect when you have HIV”, IPS quotes her saying. /Sabanews/an

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