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Youth Ambassador says Abstinence and Education will Combat HIV in Africa-

29 March 2006

A Zambian CYP Youth Ambassador for Positive Living said African governments would be more effective in their fight against HIV if they educated young children about the disease and promoted abstinence.

HIV-positive CYP Youth Ambassador Grace Mfune, 31, from Zambia, said abstinence, or limiting your number of sexual partners, would be a good policy for governments to follow as it would decrease HIV transmissions as well as other STDs (Sexually Transmitted Diseases) and unwanted pregnancies.

She said: "The HIV situation in Africa is really bad. African governments have concentrated on ARV (Antiretroviral) therapy and forgotten other key prevention methods such as education and abstinence."

Ms Mfune feels HIV rates have increased in the past 10 years because whenever someone between 15 - 45 years of age comes into her clinic for a test, at least 90 per cent turn out to be HIV positive.

According to Ms Mfune, many young people in Zambia know about HIV but are not changing their sexual behaviour because they are under immense peer pressure to have "sex for fun".

Ms Mfune said: "In Zambia, there is stigmatisation if you are HIV-positive and also if you are a man who is not sexually active. I think governments should address these two issues through education, and this should start from children in nursery schools.

"I say nursery school because even nursery school children can be HIV positive if they were breastfed by an HIV-positive mother. Also abstinence should be promoted from an early age to combat the societal norms that children are exposed to from day 1 that say it is expected for men to be promiscuous."

She added policy-makers should place more focus on treating HIV like other child diseases such as cystic fibrosis and sickle cell anaemia, which have fewer stigmas, attached to them.

She said: "Children are very sharp. They will understand the disease if they are taught it is ok to have it and you just need to be careful not to pass it on to others. It will also help those who have HIV understand why they are taking ARV medication at a young age.

"Abstinence is also very important because an HIV positive child may live and grow up to the age of 20 years. In Zambia most young people are sexually active by the age of 16 and so they can transmit the virus to another person. The culture is such that is highly unlikely they will have the same sexual partner for life and a young person may have up to 10 partners between the ages of 16-20 years which is a big number of potential infectants."

Ms Mfune wants policy-makers to properly train HIV workers and ambassadors in Zambia to deal with the stigma attached to it.

She said: "Policymakers should train teachers better in teaching HIV education because although most of the teachers have the curriculum they are not teaching it effectively because they do not know how to express it. Many feel uncomfortable talking about HIV to young people because they feel it is an adult issue because of its sexual nature."

Ms Mfune feels governments should make primary education free so that every child has the chance to go to school and make better decisions in their lives. She feels uneducated people make the fight against HIV tougher as it is difficult for them to access information about HIV.