Uganda: ABC Strategy is Failing to Prevent Marital Infidelity
The Monitor (Kampala)
August 31, 2006
UGANDA’S Abstinence, Be faithful and Condom use (ABC) strategy has failed to effectively prevent extra marital infidelity and HIV risk in marriages, a new research has shown.
The research titled, The Intragenic Risk: The effects of Uganda’s ABC programme on marital HIV Risk, found out that ABC messages about sexual risk may be intentionally configuring peoples reputation, but not preventing them from engaging in extra marital sex outside their marriage.
The research was conducted by Ms Ashanti Parikh, the Assistant Professor for African Anthropology at Washington University.
It was conducted in Uganda, Mexico, Nigeria, Papua New Gunea and Ghana.
Ashanti presented her research findings on August 23 during a public seminar at the Institute for Public Health Mulago in Kampala,
She said it will be published in the American Journal next month.
The research said, “Some form of extra marital sex is going underground and it’s interfering with safe sex practices.”
Ashanti said, globally married women have higher risk of HIV infections than unmarried women with multiple partners.
She said about 90 per cent of HIV infections had occurred among married women.
“Globally, HIV infections rates among married women are growing faster. This is because many people get married but remain sexually active outside,” Ashanti said.
“Therefore we cannot tell people to be faithful without changing the structures that facilitate extra marital liaisons.”
The research indicated said, “The ABC programme is just helping in certain cases where girls and boys are in critical economic hardships. If they were working it would be okay.”
ABC is based on individual choices and choices are structured by other factors such as inheritance, gender inequality and cultural behavior.
Ashanti criticised the government and non governmental organisations for grossly neglecting funding of HIV research projects in the member countries.
“The trend of prevention by many partner organisations are moving away from conducting researches,” Ashanti said.
She urged the government to promote female income generating activities, regulate developments of places of extramarital liaisons like lodges, drinking places and hotels.
Ashanti also recommended that voluntary counseling and testing among the married and unmarried couples should be strengthened by the government.
Some experts have credited the vigorous ‘ABC’ prevention strategy for helping to reduce HIV prevalence rate in Uganda throughout the 1990s.