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HEALTH-ARGENTINA: AIDS Threat Looms over Impoverished Young Women
By Marcela Valente
BUENOS AIRES, Dec 16 (IPS) - Argentine women who are poor and
between the ages of 15 and 24 are the group most vulnerable to
HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, say experts,
citing traditional gender roles, lack of information, and the
asymmetry of male-female power in sexual relations as contributing
factors.
The epidemic has spread rapidly through Argentina's female
population in the last few years. In 1988, the gender ratio for
people with AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) was one
woman for every 14.5 men with the disease. The ratio today is one
woman to 3.2 men.
This data is in keeping with the global trend known as the
"feminisation" AIDS, which is caused by the human immunodeficiency
virus (HIV). The women most vulnerable are adolescents, even as
young as 12, according to local experts.
In Argentina, 65.6 percent of women who have contracted the
disease are younger than 30, and most were infected with HIV
during adolescence, reports physician Mabel Bianco in a study
titled "Gender and Adolescent Sexuality: problems related to
reproduction and HIV/AIDS prevention."
The advance of the disease among young women has serious
consequences for children. The incidence of HIV/AIDS among
children in Argentina is seven percent, the highest in Latin
America, and 97 percent of the cases are the result of mother-to-
child infection.
Researchers Dalia Szulik and Nina Zamberlin, of the Centre for
State and Society Studies, highlight the need to look at the
various aspects of the problem, but particularly young women's
"individual, social and institutional vulnerability" to the
epidemic.
In their report "To Be a Woman, To Be at Risk", Szulik and
Zamberlin focus on social and institutional vulnerability because
they consider the individual to be subsidiary to the two.
The country's economic woes of the past two decades and the
recent collapse have been particularly hard on young people. They
have seen their access to employment, education, and health
services deteriorate significantly, Szulik told IPS.
"Employment opportunities for low-income youth are scarce, and
even more so for young women, who are paid less and face numerous
obstacles in gaining access to jobs in the formal sector of the
economy," says the Szulik-Zamberlin study.
In the health arena, young women from poor families who work in
the informal sector are at greater risk of becoming infected with
sexually transmitted diseases and have fewer opportunities for
information on disease prevention.
In addition to greater vulnerability due to economic and social
reasons, young women tend to be more exposed to infection as a
result of their gender, in other words, because of cultural norms
and expectations that define "appropriate behaviour" for men and
for women.
Unprotected sex is the cause of HIV transmission in 45 percent
of all cases in Argentina, but among adolescents nearly 60 percent
of infection among males is related to intravenous drug use, while
57 percent of females are infected through unprotected sexual
contact.
"Young woman are particularly vulnerable to contracting
sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS for biological and
socio-cultural reasons, the latter based on gender," according to
Szulik and Zamberlin.
The risk of infection is greater among women younger than 20
because in that period of maturity the walls of the vagina are
thinner and more likely to suffer lesions during sexual
intercourse - thus allowing the entrance of the virus into the
bloodstream.
Furthermore, young women in Argentina tend to be less aware of
the symptoms and less likely to seek medical treatment. According
to experts, most young women infected with HIV only learn of that
fact when they undergo a pregnancy test.
In strongly Roman Catholic Argentina, "the traditional gender
roles are that women should be sexually ignorant and passive, and
value their virginity, while men with multiple sexual partners are
tolerated," says the study.
"This gives males greater sexual decision-making power, denies
women the option of protecting themselves, and increases their
exposure to sexually transmitted diseases," write Szulik and
Zamberlin.
Sociologists Edith Pantelides and Rosa Geldstein conducted
research by interviewing adolescent women seeking gynaecological
services at Argerich Hospital in Buenos Aires. Half of the women
consulted said they thought they had become sexually active while
they were too young.
Often, a young woman "is unable to refuse to take part in
sexual relations, even when it is not a question of physical
force... her vulnerability lies in the fear of losing the man's
affection if she refuses," according to the study by Pantelides
and Geldstein titled "I Didn't Want to, but..." which focuses on
adolescent women from the middle and low income sectors.
One of the contexts in which "gender asymmetry is evident" is
in the decision to use a condom during sexual relations. "Young
women do not have the power to refuse sex without a condom even
when they are aware of the risks," say the authors.
For reasons related to culture and gender, when it comes to
sexual relations most women are more concerned about preventing
pregnancy than about becoming infected with a disease. While among
males the priorities are reversed because "they consider pregnancy
prevention a women's issue," states the Pantelides-Geldstein
study.
In a survey of high school students conducted by Jorge Méndez
Ribas, 33 percent of the girls responding said they had not used a
condom the first time they had sex, and just 16 percent of boys
said they had used a condom the first time.
Szulik and Zamberlin state in their study that unplanned sexual
relations are common among adolescents. Two-thirds of the male
students Méndez consulted said they did not carry a condom with
them, and even fewer girls did for fear of being considered
"promiscuous".
Public policies also fail to pay adequate attention to HIV/AIDS
prevention among youths, which is part of the "institutional
vulnerability" that Szulik and Zamberlin says contribute to the
risks faced by this sector of the Argentine population.
(END/2002)
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