Time for a serious PEP talk on gender violence and HIV AIDS

The bevy of ministers who lined up for the launch of this years Sixteen Days of Activism Against Gender Violence campaign is a welcome sign that the daily violation of women’s rights has finally registered on the political agenda

The bevy of ministers who lined up for the launch of this years Sixteen Days of Activism Against Gender Violence campaign is a welcome sign that the daily violation of women’s rights has finally registered on the political agenda

Unfortunately, the link between gender violence and the twin scourge of HIV/AIDS has not. As politicians warming up for elections hit the campaign trail during this period that runs from International Day on No Violence Against Women on 25 November to Human Rights Day on 10 December, a critical clause is being quietly dropped from the Sexual Offences Bill being rushed through parliament.

The deleted Section 21 provided for Post Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP), a cocktail of anti-retroviral drugs that can reduce the chances of getting HIV/AIDS after a sexual assault if taken within 72 hours. The reasons given include costs and concerns about litigation.

PEP is currently provided for in policy. But the government’s general reluctant stance on anti retroviral drugs has led to the issue being at best, put on the backburner, and at worst not given the prominence and public awareness that it should

While the government is urging the nation to break out in white ribbons during the Sixteen Day campaign, it has been left up to NGOs to urge that we break out in white and red ribbons: and to understand the link between the two. The NIISA Institute for Women that first popularised the white ribbon will lead the white and red ribbon campaign.

Meanwhile, Gender Links, Amnesty International and 25 NGOs across the country will drive a PEP Talk campaign in four languages to raise awareness on this vital provision. The campaign will include door- to- door visits to hospitals and clinics to find out if the drugs are available and how they are administered, peaking on World AIDS day on 1 December.

The facts are sobering. In its latest crime report, the South African Police Services (SAPS) says that 45 percent of men arrested for rape are HIV positive. Even if there are doubts as to the accuracy of these statistics, we know that the majority of those who rape fall within the age bracket that has the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rate. And the likelihood of contracting the virus is greatly increased where sex is coerced.

Consider what a woman has to go through within 72 hours of what is probably the most traumatic experience of her life. She must report the rape to the police station, where she will be lucky to be treated with any kind of privacy, let alone decency. Then she must get a medical examination- vital proof for the rape case.

Now, to add to all this, she must ask the hospital about PEP. The first thing they will ask is for her to take an HIV/AIDS test. To put it bluntly, if the woman is already HIV positive, there is no point in administering the crash course of drugs. So, within 72 hours of being raped, a woman might have to deal with the double trauma of sexual assault and finding out that she is HIV positive; a counselling challenge that few health facilities are equipped to deal with.

And if the woman is HIV negative, she has a twenty- eight days course of treatment to take, not to mention the anxiety over whether it will work and what the final outcome might be.

In a recent desktop study on PEP, the AIDS Law Project of the Centre for Applied Legal Studies struggled to get meaningful responses from health facilities in several provinces on how the treatment is being administered. Anecdotal evidence suggests that at best hospitals have the drugs, but limited counselling facilities and at worst they have neither.

On the legal front, there is a sense of de jevu about the way in which parliament is rushing through the Sexual Offences Bill that has many progressive provisions, like a gender neutral definition of rape and stiff penalties. In 1998, parliament similarly dashed off the Domestic Violence Act (DVA) before the 1999 elections. One of the casualties is that the bill was not properly budgeted for. Ironically, this is now being used as an argument for dropping PEP from the Sexual Offences Bill.

It is a cheap cop out. The provisions contained in the DVA such as special court facilities for addressing gender violence is what has made it possible to oblige the government to put its money where its mouth is.

If the government is genuine about PEP, there is nothing to fear about putting it in law. If it is not, then the law is the only safeguard for women who now daily live with the fear not just of bodily violation, but also of the death threat that looms with it. Can there be any doubt about the obligations of the state in such circumstances?

This year is also the tenth anniversary of the Vienna Declaration on Human Rights that first stated that women’s rights are human rights. If we are to give meaning to these words, there is need for a serious pep talk on gender violence and HIV/AIDS amid the campaigning cum electioneering of the next few weeks.

Colleen Lowe Morna is director of Gender Links.  For more information on this and the Pep Talk campaign go to www.genderlinks.org.za

 This article is part of the GEM Opinion and Commentary Service that provides views and perspectives on current events.

janine@genderlinks.org.za for more information.