New campaign targets widely held beliefs about masculinity

This year’s World AIDS Campaign would chip away at masculine behaviours and attitudes that contributed to the spread of HIV, Dr Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS, said last week. "Part of the effort to curb the AIDS epidemic must include challenging negative beliefs and behaviours, including the way men view risk and how boys are socialised to become men," said Piot. Speaking to journalists at the 6th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific, he added: "Men are expected to be strong, robust and virile - but these very expectations may translate into behaviours that can endanger both men and their partners." According to a UNAIDS press release, the new campaign aimed to involve men, particularly young men, more fully in the effort against AIDS. It also aimed to bring about a much-needed focus on men in national responses to the epidemic and to involve leaders both as politicians and as individuals in taking action against AIDS, the report said. "Men are key to reducing HIV transmission and have the power to change the course of the AIDS epidemic," said Dr Piot. The report added that although men needed to be encouraged to adopt positive behaviours and to play a much greater part in caring for their partners and families, prevention programmes aimed at women and girls were still essential.