| Gender and treatment, care and support
Government aims to reduce the impact of HIV/AIDS on families and households by ensuring that 80% of all HIV positive people as well as their families receive treatment, care and support by 2011 (DoH, 2007). Government aims to reduce maternal mortality related to HIV/AIDS by ensuring that women-specific programmes are in place. Once again, it is not clear what is meant by women-specific programmes.
Specific focus areas regarding Priority Two include mother to child transmission as well as the care of children and pregnant women. Although preventing MTCT is a valid approach in the prevention of HIV, it stereotypes women (Rao Gupta et al, 2003:29). Women are very often seen as ‘vectors’ of HIV. They are blamed as the transmitters of HIV to their children as well as to the broader society (Gorna, 1996:214). The link between fatherhood and HIV is often neglected and the WHO (2003) also indicates that it is needed to involve both men and women in prevention of MTCT. It is ignored that men can pass HIV to their children through their pregnant mothers. Foreman (1998) explains that few men are aware of their HIV-status and only becomes aware of it when a child gets ill with Aids-related diseases. Men who know that they are HIV-positive risk passing the virus on to future children because of their refusal to use condoms. In spite of this, only pregnant women are targeted in Key Priority area Two. There is a clear need to also target the fathers of unborn children.
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