Inter Press Service - December 7, 2000
Nana Rosine Ngangoue

According to a report issued last week by the Joint United Nation Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the risk of exposure to sexually transmissible diseases, including the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) that causes AIDS, is higher among soldiers.

"In peacetime, the rate of infection of sexually transmissible diseases (STDs) in the armed forces is usually two to five times higher than in the general population. During conflicts, though, it can be more than 50 times higher," says the report.

Several factors in the military environment contribute to this high risk factor, the report said, namely the fact that soldiers are usually stationed far from their homes and families for prolonged periods of time.

Peace missions, troops involved in third-country conflicts, and training missions abroad are cited among the factors which increase high- risk behaviours.

Although soldiers often take part in rapes and other risky activities, they want to be recognised as victims of the disease, just like the afflicted in the general population.

Armed forces representatives attending the second Forum on African Development (ADF) on AIDS, which ended here Thursday, denounced the fact that national programmes against AIDS have not included those working in military capacities. The military men stated that they too could be agents for change.

Several recommendations on this idea were heard during workshop discussions on the topic 'HIV/AIDS and the Military'. The military representatives proposed certain steps, which could control the disease. The most controversial was obligatory AIDS testing for military personnel.

One opponent of this idea was Colonel Cheick Fall of Senegal, who is also a physician. "You have to consider this problem from a legal angle. Military law is also national law. The army obeys national law. If recruits must be AIDS-tested before they enrol, that means that civil servants too must undergo the same procedure prior to hiring," he said.

In most African armies, tests are already required in certain cases. In Cote D'Ivoire, Uganda and Senegal, for example, tests are obligatory when contingents of soldiers leave for specific missions. New recruits and those applying for promotions must also be tested.

The top brass of some African armies has become extremely well sensitised to the need for measures, which will stem the spread of AIDS. In Senegal, where the rate of AIDS infections is only two percent because of quick action taken by the government immediately after the first case of the disease was discovered, military personnel all receive an unlimited supply of free condoms.

"Since 1960, condoms have been part of military provisions. That means that when we give out uniforms, shoes, etc., condoms are part of the normal supplies as well," said one Senegalese conference participant.

In most countries, there have been training sessions on risky sexual behaviours. The military health services have also worked in collaboration with the national anti-AIDS programmes to provide presentations to the general population.

In Senegal, for example, the national anti-AIDS programme has been directed for some 15 years by a military physician.

But military men living with HIV are no better off than civilians, as far as medication is concerned. In most armies in Africa, efforts are made in insure access to medications, treating only the opportunistic illnesses, which are the result of AIDS infection, but not the AIDS infection itself.

According to Captain Talu Guende, a Ugandan who has lived with AIDS since 1994, more needs to be done by the government to ensure that all military personnel have access to medications. He explained that the buying power of most soldiers in Africa is so weak that they are unable to obtain the medications necessary for survival on their own.

The African army representatives emphasised that education is a crucial ingredient in the fight against the disease. They advocate multifaceted educational programmes for military personnel.

"Soldiers need to understand how their actions can affect others, and how to better serve and involve their communities and become responsible citizens," stated Eugenie Rokhaya Aw, a consultant from the African Centre for Women working with the UN's Economic Commission for Africa. (END/IPS/HE/DV/nrn/sz/da/00).
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