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Chauvinistic male behaviour does not help matters either. Women in Benin cannot protect themselves because they rely mainly on their male partners who may decide whether or not to use condom. Some men complain not being able to enjoy sex with condom. Some don’t even want to use it at all.
Social vices are on the increase daily. Alcoholism and sex they say go together. And in a state of alcoholic stupor there is an increasing risk of irrational behaviour, which may lead to unprotected sex and infections. In this case the numerous drinking joints or buvettes littered everywhere in the cities and villages are not helping matters.
High rate of promiscuity and prostitution among girls and women increases the risk of HIV/AIDS infection. There are numerous joints where men patronize prostitutes. Men who patronize these prostitutes may be infected by the virus and subsequently pass them on to their wives. There is an increase in moral decadence. Young girls and boys flagrantly engage in sexual relationship unmindful of the consequences.
The government should formulate polices that include public enlightenment information and proper health programme tailored to the needs of women and girls. The enlightenment and HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns should not end after commemorating the world AIDS day but should be a continuous process. These campaigns should be a regular feature in the print and electronic media and there should be outreach to the villages and remote rural areas.
Improvement of Women’s position in the society and taking adequate measures in empowering and strengthening their economic independence. For instance, creation of more employment opportunities or provision of adequate training that will enable more women to be gainful employed will help in preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Marketing and effective distribution of condoms. Condoms are believed to be effected tool in the prevention of HIV/AIDS. But people need to be assisted to develop the culture of using them. Often times men detest the use of condoms on the flimsy excuse of not being able to enjoy sex with them. This attitude needs to be corrected through proper information and education. In this regards also, women should be empowered to have control over and decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their sexuality in order to protect themselves from sexually transmitted infection including HIV/AIDS. The uneducated and rural women should also be educated on how to use these condoms, which they may impress upon their partners.
Commercial sex workers in some of the notorious joints like JONQUET and ZONGO should be mobilized enlightened and educated on the risk of HIV/AIDS infection.
Some of the obnoxious cultural practices should be stopped. lt is time for everyone to come to grasp with the devastating effect of HIV/AIDS pandermic to the entire community and the world.
Abstinence is believed to be the most effective tool of HIV/AIDS prevention. Religious bodies, groups and organizations should advocate this instead of advocating the use of condoms, which are found not be 100 percent effective in HIV/AIDS prevention and also contradictory to religious injunctions and beliefs.
Government agencies, religious groups and bodies should advocate one man one wife. And early marriages among girls should be proscribed.
Antiretroviral drugs are used to check the replication of the virus in sero-positve patients to stop the virus from destroying the entire immune system, development of full blown AIDS and other opportunistic infections.
The costs of treatment with these drugs are high and not all the patients can afford them and keep to the regime of treatment.
However, the government has greatly subsidized the cost of these drugs making them to be much more affordable to some of the patients.
The social stigma attached to HIV/AIDS does not allow the patients to come out publicly in order to avail themselves of the opportunity of being treated. Some after being diagnosed HIV-positive disappear never to surface again. No one wants to be associated with HIV/AIDS or with the patients.
These antiretroviral drugs are not readily available all the time. Some patients complain about the unavailability of these drugs at times leading to the stoppage in the regime of administration and the subsequent development of resistance to these drugs by the virus when the treatment starts again.
The government should make sure that these drugs are available all the time and are readily affordable even to the poorest patients in the rural communities.
Proper enlightenment and education of the patients on the benefits of treatment with these drugs should also be emphasized.
The entire populace should be adequately informed on the issue of HIV/AIDS and the need to help, assist and accommodate the patients. They should be properly informed of the means of transmission of the disease so that the stigma placed on the patients could be removed.
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Writer Profile
EDITH
I am a Nigerian journalist presently residing in Cotonou Benin Republic. I completed my secondary and tertiary education in Nigeria.
I worked in Champion Newspapers Limited from 1992 to 1994 as a news reporter. During my stay at Champion Newspapers, I was exposed to basic newsrooms operations, including coverage of field assignments such as newsgathering and generation from beats like economy, business reporting, politics, feature and opinion writing and news monitoring on radio and television. I displayed a great amount of skill in all my assignments.
I worked with the Federal Radio Co-operation of Nigeria (FRCN) as a scriptwriter, presenter and a producer of Children’s Programme, Today’s Woman, Health Corner and Radio Drama from 1994 to 1999.
I later joined my family in Cotonou Benin Republic in 1999. Due to the love I have for my career, I did not allow it to die or sweep away. I continued from where I stop in Nigeria.
Presently I am working with Capp Fm 99.6 as a presenter in Cotonou Benin Republic. I joined Capp Fm 99.6 in October 1999. Contributing Editor Les femmes magazine South Africa.
I am a member of African Economics Editors Network (AEEN) and International Women Media Foundation (IWMF) USA.
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Comments
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