Let me start by posing these questions: how many young women are having sex in your community? How many of those are having it safely? And how many of those are having it consensually?
All these questions are coming alive as I type this as I anticipate that the answers could be provided by the scientists who I rubbed shoulders with at the 2016 HIV Research for Prevention (HIVR4P) conference. HIVR4P is the only global conference that brings together researchers and community advocates from all over the world in support of the cross-fertilization of work on HIV vaccines, microbicides, PrEP, treatment as prevention, and other biomedical prevention approaches. R4P provides a forum to discuss research findings alongside community experiences. This year the conference was held in Chicago, USA with almost 1,500 delegates in attendance.
About three weeks ago I came across a very disturbing story of a young girl who was raped by seven men. Chikondi (name changed to keep her identity confidential) is a 14-year-old girl who comes from a rural part of Salima District in Malawi. The son of the community’s traditional leader was celebrating his birthday. To show solidarity, community members on such occasions are expected to celebrate with the family. Such celebrations are usually conducted at night and are known as “Mchezo” in my local language.