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PEOPLE argue that today’s teens are of loose morals compared to those of yester-year. But, that is debatable.
One is bound to ask how the decision to classify them as loose was reached.
Statistics show that today’s youths are indulging in premarital sex more than their yester-year counterparts.
A university student argued that, then no surveys were done and to compare this generation statistically to one that was not surveyed is unfair.
Today, with awareness and funding, there are more of these surveys hence the availability of data.
With data, we can know where we are coming from and going and therefore be in a position to plan.
With HIV, it is not a blame game but the youth are advised to abstain.
If they cannot abstain, they have to use protection.
“There was no HIV threat in our parents’ generation when they were teens so to compare the two is wrong,” he said.
Recent findings that HIV prevalence was high among married people made interesting but queer reading.
It should be that married people have a partner back home and should therefore not indulge in extra marital affairs.
That does not seem to be true for some couples.
Marriage was once seen as the actualisation of a female and tying the knot and settling down was the ultimate goal of many a woman.
It appears that the risk now far outweighs the comfort that was brought about by the latter.
If two people who were settling down took it upon themselves to have an HIV test first then the story would be different.
But the usual path is that one gets tested when pregnant.
Hundreds of voluntary counselling and testing centres offer the service for a nominal fee of R5 and clinics offer free pre-HIV counselling and testing.
They also offer post-counselling in case one tests positive.
In a random survey taken it was seen that many couples interviewed did not believe that their partner was faithful.
Nearly a quarter of women who thought their husbands had another partner were wrong (according to the husband’s report) and women who thought their husbands had another partner were not necessarily at higher HIV risk than other women.
This was highlighted in a report by the National Aids Council.
What could be going wrong in the revered institution of marriage. As a nation we have to see that the union of marriage is preserved. We have to begin with the one love.
The one love campaign seeks to spread the one partner motto. The sexual networks do not do any good to those in the circuit hence the need to stick to one faithful partner.
In 1986 the prevalence rate stood at 36 percent and then threatened to wipe away generations.
The rate of new infections started to decline in the late 90s and today stands at 13,6 percent.
It must still go down even further.
What could have led to the decline?
People panicked and the sight of a sick relative back home or even a gaunt stranger on the streets sent a chill down one’s spine.
Today the numbers of sick-looking people is going down and I can even vouch that one can go for a month without having come across one with Aids symptoms on the city streets unless one has visited a hospital or clinic.
I believe the decline is due to a number of factors, namely awareness, the availability of condoms, behaviour change and access to medical care.
Behaviour has changed in a great way and for those who still hinge on double dates, they are now at least taking latex protection seriously.
At least if one can not be responsible for controlling his/her feelings then they should be in charge and be free from the risk of contracting and spreading the virus and must hence use protection always.
From an informed view, a person on ART for years and with an undetectable viral load is less likely to pass the virus. So with access to ART the rate of new infections is likely to go down significantly.
The national programme launched by the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare to make all pregnant women access maternal health is also a step in the right direction.
This will see expectant mothers getting tested for HIV. It is cheaper to prevent the virus from mother to child than to later have the same child on ART for life.
The PMTCT programme can be a leap in the reduction of new infections.
A case in point is that of Lydia who found out that she was HIV positive when she was expecting.
She was devastated.
“I was a virgin when I got married so I did not see the need for us to get tested for HIV then,” said Lydia.
“We were asked for the routine HIV testing at the ante-natal clinic and I did not hesitate to take the test, to say I was shocked is an underestimation, I was devastated,” said the young mother.
She is grateful that she took the test because she was put on preventive medication right away.
“I was lucky that my baby did not get infected, infact, I was so hurt that at one time I contemplated suicide. The nurses understood where I was coming from and I got correct counselling right until I delivered,” she said.
PMTCT can be an effective method to reduce new infections.
It is possible to have an HIV-free generation with effective prevention from mother to child.
“According to United Nations data, 370 000 children were born with HIV in 2009, the vast majority of them in Africa – the region that bears by far the highest Aids burden,” the report noted.
Zimbabwe is making strides to have an HIV-free generation from birth. This is made possible through PMTCT.
Today, Zimbabwe has established PMTCT centres in all the provinces throughout the country.
Approximately 356 400 pregnant women, around 28 percent of those in need, are able to access ART when pregnant.
The idea is to make it accessible to all pregnant women.
The major hindrance could be social and religious. Some religions do not even allow the women to seek medical assistance and this puts both mother and baby at risk.
About 60 percent of those infected with HIV in Zimbabwe are women and for them to access ART makes an impact on the new infections.
A mother on the PMTCT programme can thus be sure to give birth to a child free from HIV infection.
Even with such strides taken, we cannot relax and relapse into the comfort zone.
Availability of ART should not be a ticket that even if one gets infected at least there is medication.
HIV is not curable it is now only manageable.
So to be reckless and get infected on the notion that there is medication is warped thinking.
Many people have problems taking just a full course of antibiotics and pain killers, now talk of taking medication for life, that is not a joke.
As a nation we cannot afford to sit back and pat ourselves for a job well done.
There is still a lot to be achieved.
We should strive to get the rate even to one digit in the next five years and eliminate any new transmissions by 2020.
My concern today lies in those never tested and not using protection because they do not know their status. Knowing or not knowing your status, the onus to be responsible lies in you.
The majority not taking a test are about as sure to be infected. For some, they have had multiple partners so it won’t be surprising.
A workmate who has been in three marriages quipped: “Taking an HIV test is tantamount in our African custom to looking for the hidden,” (kutsvaga makudo mugomo unoawana).
He therefore will not go looking for the obvious.
Whether it is wise to live in ignorance, the foolish can say.
Is it not advisable that everyone knows her/his status?
If you would have known your status earlier, what would you have done differently? A friend once said she had an aunt who thought she was HIV positive yet she had never taken any test.
She said she just got reckless because she believed she had waded in murky waters.
“My mother’s sister had lost a husband 10 years ago. She just thought she was HIV positive.
The husband had died of an undisclosed ailment and she concluded that it could have been Aids related.
“She got into one relationship after the other and confirmed that she was not using protection. She said she could not have been clear after all the relationships so she lived rather on the end,” she said.
The aunt’s child had to have a blood transfusion and there was no blood at the bank so she was asked to take an HIV test. She had no choice and had to take the test. To her surprise she was HIV negative.
She could not believe it. She was relieved and regretted the dangerous path she had taken.
There are so many people in the same boat with this woman. There is no need to be reckless with your life. Even if you know or do not know, the power to make a difference is in your hands.
Married couples are urged to take an HIV test irrespective of the fact that you have been together for some years.
Imagine a scenario where one is HIV positive and the other is not. The risk factor involved.
This is not a message to break homes but to take precaution where necessary.
There are a lot of discordant couples.
With such couples, one is HIV positive and the other is not. How then does it come to be like that if the two have been living together for years and having unprotected sex?
They are also advised not to be judgmental, which is critical in HIV prevention.
Such couples are urged to practise safer sex and correct condom use.
Studies are being done on discordant couples locally.
When one tests positive to HIV, the logical thing to do is to disclose to your partner.
Rather we have situations where one keeps quiet putting the other partner at risk.
Most people see health care providers as trusted sources on their health issues and are more likely to listen to them.
We hear people not eating this and that kind of food because the doctor said so.
Had the doctor not said so it could be “good” even if it had detrimental effect.
As far as HIV is concerned, health personnel have a major role to play.
It is our duty to foster an HIV-free nation if we care enough.
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