HIV PREVENTION AND MANAGEMENT

HIV prevention requires more than making people aware that HIV exists. It requires more than giving people a number of phrases they memorize and repeat without any insight. HIV management requires a deeper understanding of cause and effect, of lifestyle changes that need to be made, and of how to enable these changes.

As a new facilitator with HIV&Me I have come across this unfortunate and common situation of ‘parrot fashion’ response quite often in my dealings with both educators and learners.

What I discovered is that when people are asked about HIV prevention and management, their answers are usually ‘ABSTAIN’, ‘CONDOMISE’, ‘GET TESTED’,‘GET TREATMENT’. The problem remains however that these very same people do not always know WHY or HOW to action their responses. For example, in a marriage where one partner is the provider and initiating sex (in most cases unprotected), it becomes difficult for the other partner to decline due to factors such as abuse, fear of losing their partner, fear of losing their source of livelihood, fear of being accused of being unfaithful.

Of course this scenario is not exclusive to married couples. I have found that a major contributing factor to learners engaging in sexual behaviour is fear of losing their partner to another more willing individual. So to simply teach kids to ABSTAIN or CONDOMISE without investigating the various reasons why kids won’t abstain or won’t condomise, will never resolve the problem.

We need to teach our kids about the biological aspects of HIV transmission and the impact of HIV&AIDS and pregnancy. We also need to empower our kids with self believe, self esteem, dreams and goals.

We need to start to listen and enter into meaningful dialogue with our kids to really understand the reasons for their actions. When children then find themselves in a compromising situation, they will be better equipped to stand up to peer group pressure, to know who they are and to be able to assess a situation with its risks and respond appropriately. The appropriate response can never be achieved through a mere repetition of some key phrases. Understanding and skill on how to implement what those phrases mean is also required. We need real behavior change with real insight.

What I have found with the HIV&Me program, is that it addresses this particular concern by requiring both learners and educators to really analyze HIV information and to apply a considerable amount of thought on how to best deal with the many aspects of HIV. The way in which the lessons are structured, allows me to ask questions that provoke logical and critical thinking and this is something that educators, through the teacher training component of the program, then become equipped to practice with their learners. In order for the spread of HIV to be prevented, we need to change the manner in which people receive, process, internalize and respond to information and we need to listen. I feel that the HIV&Me program is focused on this goal.