Education and emancipation as tools to fight taboos and prejudice
Proper education and prevention go hand in hand. They form the foundation for the fight against AIDS. In many cases, people in developing countries have no access to information. The fight against HIV/AIDS is also made more difficult by inequality between men and women, taboos, prejudice and misinformation. That is why Hivos supports partner organisations that educate people about HIV/AIDS.
AIDS prevention is only effective if sexuality and safe sex are subjects that people are willing to discuss, and if people have access to accurate information about AIDS and the use of condoms. Hivos believes that that information should also address discrimination of people with HIV/AIDS, gays and prostitutes, as well as the consequences of gender inequality for the spread of HIV/AIDS.
For their education and prevention activities, partner organisations use mostly volunteers from their target groups, as well as ICT and media. For example a partner organisation sends Kenyan teenagers text messages on Friday and Saturday nights, reading, ‘Will you be going out tonight? Practise safe sex!’ The STAR project, an initiative of Hivos and KPN, uses a computer game to make teenagers and young adults aware of the dangers of HIV/AIDS. Some partners also present their information in shows using song, dance and music.
AIDS is very closely linked to views on sexuality. Suppression, unequal roles of men and women and resurgent fundamentalism present dangers in the fight against HIV/AIDS, as do taboos, prejudice and persistent myths about HIV/AIDS.
Mostly, it is women, girls, sex workers, refugees and LGBT groups (lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transsexuals) whose freedom and rights suffer. Taboos and prejudice cause dependence and social isolation. In Africa, as well as elsewhere around the world, it is considered a great disgrace to be HIV positive. Exclusion and discrimination are very common. Hivos supports organisations that make these people less vulnerable, to help them protect themselves more easily against the transmission of HIV/AIDS and their social environments.
The Hivos approach:
- Hivos creates facilities that ensure that people are properly educated;
- Hivos makes people aware of the risks and consequences of infection with HIV;
- Hivos uses ICT to improve the effectiveness and performance of local organisations;
- Hivos encourages openness and the breaking of taboos;
- Hivos works to discredit myths surrounding HIV/AIDS and to eliminate inequalities between men and women;
- Hivos draws the attention of general human rights organisations and LGBT organisations to HIV/AIDS.
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