Sexual violence lead to high HIV infection rates in Zimbabwe

Lack of wide scale programs to address cross-generational sex and sexual violence has led to high HIV infection rate among young women in Zimbabwe, a study by Population Services International (PSI) Zimbabwe and the African Union revealed on Friday.

The organizations said sexual relations between older men and younger women had left women with limited ability to negotiate safer sexual behavior, exposing them more to the risk of HIV infection.

The study was carried out between January and May 2005.

Studies carried out between 1998 and 2000 in rural Manicaland province show that HIV prevalence in 15 year-old girls was three percent while that of 17 year-olds was at about one percent.

The rate rose to 40 percent in the 25 to 29 years category of women as compared to 15 percent of men in the same age group.

HIV prevalence among clients of New Start, a voluntary HIV counseling and testing institution, in 2003 reflected a one against five percent between boys and girls in the 15 to 19 years age group.

In the 20 to 24 years category, the prevalence rate stood at nine and 22 percent respectively.

The Women and AIDS Support Network blamed women's dependence on men for the increased spread of the HIV/AIDS virus among women.

The network's director, Mary Sandasi, said the majority of women worldwide were contracting the virus because of limited choices available for them.

"We have noticed that women are powerless when it comes to AIDS prevention because of their dependence on their male counterparts. In most cases women look up to men for financial support and that puts them at risk of contracting the virus," she said.

Sandasi said her organization felt there was a need to teach women and girls to be self-dependent.

It had also been engaged in talks with manufacturers of contraceptives with an aim to make the female condom cheaper, she said.

"We are trying to lobby authorities to make the female condom, which is currently beyond the reach of many local women, cheaper and readily available for everyone who needs them."

The United Nations has said that the growing impact of HIV and AIDS on women and girls has reached crisis proportions in southern Africa.

A UN report on HIV and AIDS shows that sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 77 percent of all HIV-positive women in the world.

Source: Xinhua