Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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New Vision (Kampala) - September 30, 2003
Lillian Omariba
That was the opinion of many experts at the ICASA AIDS conference in Nairobi, where the typical African male was described almost as a walking HIV risk. Their typical thumbnail sketch was of a man ignorant or scornful of safe sex, highly promiscuous and often forcing his wife or girlfriend into having intercourse.
The biggest risk groups of all are migrant workers and truck drivers who are lonely and far from home, flushed with cash and alcohol, and tempted into unprotected sex with prostitutes - "Money and missing my honey," as the saying goes.
Such men are the silent bringers of death. They bring the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) into their homes, infect their wives and eventually orphan their children. Altering attitudes so that African men become more aware and more responsible is a mighty task, according to the latest studies.
"It's the male ego," is the blunt verdict of Cary Alan Johnson, the representative in Zimbabwe for Africare, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) which promotes health and AIDS awareness.
A South African programme, 'Men as Partners', enrolled 139 men in three-month workshops to encourage them to change their behaviour. The volunteers came from the military, from the workplace, unemployed men in Soweto, church groups, youth groups and prisons, and were interviewed before and after the workshops.
Before, 56% of the recruits said they were the ones to decide when to use a condom in a relationship; after, this figure fell, but only slightly - to 48%.
Before the workshop, 56% believed that when a woman says no to sex "she does not really mean it," and this fell afterwards to a still-high 41%.
Before the workshop, 79% believed it was better to be a man than a woman, and 66% maintained this belief three months later.
There were some successes though. More men agreed that a woman could refuse to have unprotected sex; fewer (from 36 to 18%) agreed that "women who dress sexily want to be raped," and more said they would decide jointly with their partner whether to use contraception.
A clear conclusion is that conventional sex-education campaigns, with the condom invariably in the spotlight, may be a waste of time and resources.
"Peer pressure works best, and the best hopes lie with the next generation of men," said Damien Wohlfahrt, whose organisation EngenderHealth conducted the programme.
"Reaching adolescent males has been fairly easy. Targeting older men is more difficult. Older and rural men often found it easier to discuss issues in greater depth in men-only workshops," he said.
"Some find it difficult to talk in front of women or to listen to them. In men-only groups they feel more free to discuss honestly their views about sexuality, sexual behaviour and gender."
The success of the man-to-man approach in a typically male setting is underscored in a study led by Admire Chirowodza of the Women's Health Programme in Zimbabwe.
He and his colleagues interviewed more than 1,300 men in beer halls in Harare, asking them about their sexual habits.
More than half of the men said they had helped their drinking buddy to stay safe from HIV in the past six months by encouraging him to use a condom or avoid having sex with a risky partner or distracted him from having intercourse with her.
It will be a long time, though, before men can talk openly about sexuality and gender, with women or even their children, said Johnson: "Culture (itself) has to change."
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