Two
years ago, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) declared
that “Getting to Zero.” would be the theme of World AIDS Day until 2015.
Their
decision reflected the simple fact that we are closer than we ever have been to
achieving an AIDS-free generation. But even as we near what many consider to be
the end of the global HIV/AIDS epidemic, it is important we not lose sight of
the people and places that have been hit particularly hard by the disease.
The
silence around HIV/AIDS and its impact on the LGBT community in Africa must be
broken. While there have been verbal and sometimes policy-level commitment by
African governments regarding equal access to HIV treatment, care and
prevention, LGBT Africans are left out of the picture more often than
not. Unfortunately, the mere mention of LGBT persons in Africa are often
dismissed by religious clergy, politicians and cultural leaders. They
falsely accuse human rights activists and public health practitioners as “being
influenced by the West” and/or paid HIV peddlers and moral decadents.”
It is
this type of cultural, religious and political resistance that has long driven
the high prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Africa. Their unwillingness to accept sexual
and gender minority persons in Africa has generated profound stigma and
societal hostility, thus making this LGBT persons extremely difficult to reach.
We can
no longer sit by and watch the number of HIV infections rise among lesbian and
bisexual women in Africa. –A recent study entitled Forced Sexual Experiences as Risk Factor for Self-Reported
HIV Infection among Southern African Lesbian and Bisexual Women found
out that 10% of women who have sex with women in four southern African
countries are HIV-positive. The study suggests that the main source of
infection among lesbians is likely ‘corrective or curative’ rape. The trauma
these woman face once they have been attacked is often compounded when they
seek help from police or health care workers, which keeps them from getting tested
or treated for HIV.
As
religious and cultural fundamentalists continue defending what they term “moral
values”, they seem far removed from the lived realities of the very people for
whom they claim to speak. Like a baobab tree whose large base is the cornerstone
of a society, the few self-proclaimed and often privileged “watchdogs” fail to
see, or choose to ignore, how the base of the tree has lost some of its
foundation.
Thankfully,
there are reasons to be optimistic. The 17th
International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA) conference
will take place in South Africa December 7th through the 11th. The conference
will bring together approximately 10,000 participants, including leading scientists,
policy makers, activists, persons living positively with HIV and government
leaders.
LGBT
persons from across the African continent constitute a significant percentage
of the conference which is held every two years. While we should be on the lookout for
promises to curb HIV/AIDS by those African governments in attendance, it is
still painfully ironic that of the 77countries that still have punitive laws against same-sex
conduct, 37 of them are African states. These punitive laws do
nothing but validate the stigmatization of persons affected and infected with
HIV.
On this
26th anniversary of World AIDS Day, it is important for us to
remember we all share a common humanity. If we are not careful, the
indifference and inaction of those who should, and can act, will overshadow any
progress we might hope to make.
On this 26th anniversary of World AIDS Day,
it is important for us to change the narrative concerning HIV/AIDS in Africa. I am proud to be one of the
many African voices calling for justice when and where it matters most for the
African people.
