Men abandon tradition to fight HIV/AIDS

On Saturday afternoons the 69 members of the Kisumu chapter of the Movement of Men Against AIDS (MMAAK) in Kenya's Nyanza Province gather in a dusty hall in the Manyatta slum to discuss their problems and find new ways to involve their peers in controlling HIV. MMAAK is a nongovernmental organisation with a national membership of more than 6,000 mostly HIV-positive men, part of whose mission statement is to "challenge social and cultural stereotypes [that] hinder progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS". The disease has hit Nyanza Province's Luo ethnic community hard - Kisumu currently has a prevalence of 15 percent, more than double the national average of about six percent - and the men usually practice polygamy and wife inheritance, which have accelerated the spread of HIV/AIDS in the region. In this old-school part of the country, men are expected to bottle up their problems, grit their teeth and get on with it, so the chance to meet and talk to others in the same situation has come as a welcome relief. "Therapeutic and encouraging" is how HIV-positive Kenneth Otieno, 21, describes the weekly meeting. "The men at these sessions know exactly what I go through on a daily basis," Otieno said. "I can relate with them and they give me the confidence to carry on positively." They also encourage others to protect themselves from the virus, and "we advocate for greater involvement of men in care and support of HIV-positive people", said Elijah Oyola, MMAAK's Kisumu site coordinator. Among the Luo, sexual and reproductive health issues are traditionally the preserve of women, but the men from MMAAK are making a concerted effort to overcome the stigma of breaking with tradition. "I am a trained home-based carer. I help people manage their conditions, teach them things like hygiene and how to dress their wounds," said Tom Onyango, who joined the group in 2001 after his wife died from an AIDS-related illness. Otieno said it was crucial for men to understand how to protect themselves and their families from AIDS. "I was 15 when I found out I was HIV-positive. I had never used a condom before, I did not know that it could have saved me from the virus." He has just completed a UN Children's Fund (Unicef) course in preventing mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV. "It is important for men to join their spouses when they go to antenatal clinic - they are part of the family and PMTCT is not just a women's issue, it is a family issue," he said. Oyola agreed: "We want men to own the process of fighting AIDS, since it affects them so much."