Joburg and Gauteng step up HIV-AID fight
29 November 2016
Communities must openly accept men in sexual relationships with other men in order to assist in the fight against the rising prevalence of HIV-AIDS within this group, a dialogue on the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community heard on Friday November 25.
The dialogue, held at the Zandspruit Community Clinic in the City of Johannesburg’s Region C, was part of a health drive ahead of World AIDS Day on Thursday December 1.
Scores of community members listened as Anova Health4Men officials spoke openly about sexual risks and prevention methods among the group.
Anova Health4Men Training and Mentoring Manager Nozipho Gume said it was important to raise awareness of sexual choices made by men. She told the community that they must accept that there were men who were having sex with other men.
“Men who have sex with other men (MSM) are a hidden community. You can never tell by just looking at men. It’s important for us to educate primary health personnel to have knowledge about MSM and to take a comprehensive history from males to identify those who have sexual relations with other men,” she said.
Gume said the biggest challenge was MSM who engaged in unprotected sex as they could easily spread HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases between the heterosexual and homosexual communities.
“The challenge is that we don’t know who they are. It could be a married man or someone in relationships with women. Through engaging with them we can address risks in their sexual choices. Through engagements and community awareness programmes we can minimise HIV infections in our communities,” Gume said.
Sister Thandeka Mthimunye, who works at the Zandspruit Community Clinic, urged the community to use programmes at the facility to empower themselves on sexual health. She advised residents to speak openly about the sexual behaviour of men in sexual relationships with other men. Mthimunye said doing so and accepting that such relationships did exist would enable steps to be taken to prevent the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.
The City of Johannesburg and the Gauteng Department of Health have embarked on a series of activities as a build-up to World AIDS Day. The City’s health volunteers are visiting households to provide education on HIV-AIDS to increase awareness of the benefit of HIV testing and counselling, prevention and treatment programmes. They are also providing information about testing and treatment policies and linkages to treatment.