What the death of two men teaches us about our blind spot in the AIDS response

published on December 4, 2015 by Dean Peacock, in Health Canal

Dean Peacock from UCT's School of Public Health writes in The Conversation about the lessons that can be learnt from two men's stories: highlighting the need for lifesaving HIV services.

What the death of two men teaches us about our blind spot in the AIDS responseAIDS memorial in Vienna, Austria. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Meet Reuben Mokae and Sonwabo Qathula. Two men who both died unnecessarily of AIDS-related illnesses.

They have the same story as hundreds of thousands of men who die of AIDS each year in Africa. And their deaths reminds us of the enduring blind spot in the collective response to HIV and AIDS: our failure to adequately reach men with gender equality education and lifesaving HIV services, especially testing and treatment.

Their deaths also conform to a now predictable pattern. While HIV prevalence is nearly equal between women and men, men make up nearly two-thirds of those who die of AIDS-related deaths globally. Yet, in most of Africa, men make up only one-third of those tested and treated.

Not enough is being done to address this, with consequences for both men and women. And it also severely undermines efforts to reach the goal to end AIDS by 2030.

Reuben's story

Reuben Mokae was part of the now defunct Men as Partners Network – a coalition of grassroots organisations that educates and supports men to prevent gender-based violence and HIV and AIDS.

A father of three and the son of a priest, Reuben joined the network through a HIV support group he and his wife attended after testing positive in 1998.

He used his own story to help men understand the devastation of gender stereotypes. He spoke proudly of how he rejected them to care for his wife, struggling with AIDS related opportunistic infections. She died in 2003.

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What the death of two men teaches us about our blind spot in the AIDS response

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